The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness
by Llwynog the Bard
Summary: Picks up where Shadow Falls left off. Highly recommended reading Shadow Falls before hand. Rated T for language and violence. Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Legend of Zelda franchise.
1. Chapter 1

**The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter One**

There stood a tall tower, one unlike any he had ever seen before. Near the top was a strange-looking round something that turned out a steady _chunk chunk chunk_ as its outer ring rotated. He looked all around, trying to take in everything at once. The land had seemed like the land he knew, but this was completely new. He pulled his cloak forward on his shoulders and then began to make his way through the city. A child walked past him, whom he stopped for a moment.

"Excuse me, lad," he said, controlling his accent as best he could in an attempt to not sound foreign, "but could you tell me, what is that tower there?" He pointed a long, olive-skinned finger towards the tower with the round something on its front.

"You not from around here, sir?" said the boy with a bemused look on his face. "That's the clock tower, it is, but I thought everyone knew that."

"Yes, well," he said, in an attempt to copy the boy's accent, "I'm a traveler and where I come from, we haven't got clock towers. In fact, we haven't even got clocks, so I don't really know what that is or what it's for. Could you possibly tell me?"

"Yes, sir," said the boy, looking puzzled. "It's for telling time. I dunno really how it works, but I just know that's what it's for."

"I see," he said. "Well, time is something I do know about. Perhaps not everything in this world will be a mystery to me." He stared up at the thing which he now knew was called a clock, mesmerized by its perpetual and steady rotation. "Thank you, lad. I'm sorry I took you away from your playtime."

"No problem, sir," said the boy, looking confused but not sorry to be leaving the man. He watched the boy run off, and then continued on his way. He passed through what he concluded must have been the commercial district, even though all he found was a shooting gallery, a milk bar, and a puzzle game in which he had no interest. Eventually he came to a building marked with a sign that read "The Stock Pot Inn: 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m." He stared at the sign, puzzling over what it meant, until a man in a red jumper sporting a great red walrus mustache spoke to him.

"Watchoo lookin' at, eh mister?"

"This sign," he said. "I don't quite understand it."

"What about it don't you understand?"

"Well, I've gathered that this is a boarding establishment, but these numbers, eight a.m. to eight-thirty p.m.…what does that mean?"

"Well that's the time what this place is open," said the mustachioed man. "Ain't you from around here?"

"No, actually," he said. "I'm a traveler and where I'm from, we haven't got clocks. Time isn't something we measure, really." He paused. "So tell me, if this place opens at eight a.m., how long must I wait before I can enter?"

"You can go in now, if you like," said the man with the walrus mustache. "It's almost noon."

"What is noon?" he said with genuine interest.

"Blimey, don't you – well, no, you just said you haven't got clocks where you're from, so you wouldn't know how to tell time. Well, noon is when the sun is at its highest, so when it gets to be noon the day's half over."

"I see," he said. "So, has noon got a number to go with it or is it just 'noon'?"

"Oh, right," said Mr. Mustache. "It's also 12 o'clock p.m. See, p.m. starts at noon and a.m. starts at midnight. They've figgered it to where there's twenty-four hours in a day, so they go through one through twelve twice over, see. But, sir, not to be rude but I really must be going."

"Oh, no, please don't let me keep you," he waved an olive hand to signify his lack of concern. "You've been quite helpful. Thank you."

He entered the inn, his head buzzing with everything he'd just tried to take in. They measured time here, they had a device with which to do it… it was almost too much to take in. He strode over to the desk where he was met by a red-haired woman. _With that red hair_, he thought, _I'd say she was a Gerudo if it weren't for that pale skin of hers._

"Hello, sir," she said in a timid voice. "Welcome to the Stock Pot Inn."

"Thank you very much for your hospitality," he said. "Hah, I see you have one of those clocks in here too. Fascinating…"

"Yes, sir," she said, not sure what to make of that statement. "They're in every public building, and most private ones, too. Um…so, will you be staying the night?"

"Yes, I believe I will be," he said. "That sounds like a brilliant idea."

"Could I get your name, sir?"

"For what reason?" he said, an incredulous smile showing his white teeth.

"I need to mark you in my ledger so that I don't mistakenly try to give your room away to someone else. Mother says I am quite absent-minded."

"All the best of us are from time to time," he said jovially. "In that case, of course you can. Zagros is my name. That's z-a-g-r-o-s, Zagros. Now, where do I go from here?"

"Upstairs to the end of the hall," she said. "Now, that will be 50 rupees."

"Rupees?" he said. "You use rupees here? Interesting…well, I'm afraid I haven't got any on me. You see, I'm a king, so I have no use for money."

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but everyone pays here," she said. "But, if you haven't got any money, I guess…just don't worry about it. I don't guess one night without payment will put us out of business."

"You are too kind," said Zagros. "Now, can you tell me who I can speak to in order to learn more about these clocks and the other devices I'm not familiar with?"

"Yes," she said. "There's an astronomer not too far from town who lives in his astral observatory. Not really sure what he does there, but I'm sure if anyone can help you with whatever it is you want to know, he'd be the one."

"You are most helpful," said Zagros, and he bowed low.

"Hello?" came the voice of an old man. "Who's there?"

"My name is Zagros," he said, as he reached the final landing at the top of the stairs.

"How did you get in here?" said the old man. "This is my private observatory."

"That little boy let me in," said Zagros. "Now, I need your help. I need you to teach me the secrets to this world."

"Well," said the astronomer, "what do you want to know?"

"Everything."

Fifteen years passed, and Link woke from his bed with a start.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Two**

Link was drenched in cold sweat. His heart was pounding in his chest and his breathing was shallow.

"Link?" came Midna's mostly-asleep voice from beside him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Midna sat up. "You had one of those dreams again, didn't you?" Link said nothing. "Link, you really need to see someone about that."

"I've been to see Quaron," he said through shallow breaths. "He gave me some medicine but it didn't do any good."

"Well," she said, "perhaps Renado can help, or Luda, if he can't help. Besides, it'll be good for you to see the world of light again."

"Yeah," said Link. "That'd be nice. We could all go, make a vacation out of it. It'd be nice to see Ordon again."

"Alright," said Midna. "We'll talk more about it tomorrow. Try to go back to sleep."

"I think I'll step outside for a minute, actually," he said. "Maybe it'll clear my head." He made his way across the room and slid the door open. Out on the balcony, the cold night air stung Link's skin. He hated winter in the Twilight Realm. This world was cold enough without any sun, but winter was the worst. The shade of the sky was darker than in summer, and it was much colder. That was the worst part of it for Link. At least in Hyrule there was snow to show for the temperature, but here there was no snow, just intense cold. He barely lasted a minute out on the balcony before having to go back inside.

"Midna's right," he said to himself. "Renado will know what to do."

Orange light filled the room as Link finished dressing the next morning. Even after fifteen years, he still felt awkward in his clothes. He wore a dark green padded doublet over a black shirt, cinched at the waist by a wide, black belt with a square silver buckle, along with black pants and knee level black leather boots. Over all of that was a dark green velvet robe with black fur trim. On his right hand he wore a silver ring set with onyx, and on his head he wore a crown fashioned from silver encrusted with a sapphire in the center, an emerald on either side of the sapphire, and two pieces of jet outside of the emeralds on both sides. Dark green velvet made the cap inside the crown's silver band. Link hated having to wear all of this when he was in public, but he was a king, after all, and so he was required to look like a king.

"It'll be good to be back in Hyrule again," said Link and Midna entered the room, dressed in her familiar traveling gown.

"Especially for you," she said as she sat down on the bed. "I don't mind it so much, but I'm not sure how well I'll do, we haven't been there in so long. I'm more anxious to see what Renado says about your dreams."

"So am I. Have you told Eoghan and Siobhán we're going yet?" said Link as he fastened his robe. Midna had already finished dressing, as she had a servant to help her dress (Link, being a man, could take care of himself).

"Not yet," she said. "I thought it would be best not to get them wound up sooner than necessary."

"Good point," Link acknowledged, "except that I think it may be too late for that. I see someone peeking through the door. Siobhán, come in here!" Slowly the door opened. There stood Siobhán, the older of Link and Midna's twin children by four minutes. She had just turned sixteen, but she exuded beauty beyond her years. She very much resembled her mother; her skin was the pale blue of the Twili, and she was tall for a girl by Hylian standards. However, she had inherited dirty blonde hair and blue eyes from her father. She kept her eyes to the floor as she shuffled into the room.

"Am I in trouble?" she said in a soft voice the very much belied her strong appearance.

"Well, that depends," said Link. "Shut the door." Siobhán did as she was told. "Now, how much did you hear?"

"All of it," she confessed. "We're going to the world of light, mom isn't sure how she'll do in the light after not having been in it for so long, and you've been having dreams."

"Well," said Midna. "What shall we do, then?" She turned her eyes to Link. He was the king, so the final decision rested with him.

"So," he said, "the question is 'are you in trouble'. Well, I'll make you a deal." Siobhán snapped her head up to look her father in the eyes. "You will be in no trouble at all, if, and _only_ if, you promise not to say a word about it to your brother."

Siobhán beamed. "I can do that! I promise it'll stay a complete secret."

"Good," said Midna. "Now, go change. We're leaving in a few hours." Siobhán turned and ran off down the hall.

"You know," said Midna, her eyes toward the floor, "before the whole Zant fiasco, I never thought I wanted kids." She got up and glided over to where Link stood, took his chin in her hand and turned his head to face her. "But now, I couldn't imagine it any other way, and it's all thanks to you."

"You mean you wouldn't rather be married to a Twili and have full-blooded Twili children?"

"No, Link," she said with utmost sincerity. "Never in a million years would I want our kids any other way than what they are, or would I choose anyone over you. If I had it all to do over again," she fought back tears, "it would be you. It's always been you, even before I knew you existed. I love you." She pressed her lips to his and leaned into him, savoring every second of it. After a moment she let him go.

"I love you too," he said, before frowning. "Midna, are you crying?"

"A little bit," she confessed. "I always tear up when I think about it. Partly because of how I feel about you, partly because the joy and pride I feel just knowing that Siobhán and Eoghan are my kids…but then it's also partly guilt because I remember when all I cared about was myself, and I think…I almost threw all of this away." Link sat down beside her on the bed.

"Midna, please," he took her hand in his. "Don't cry, there's no reason to. You didn't throw anything away, I'm here, Siobhán and Eoghan are here, everything's fine. I hate to see you cry."

"I know, it's silly," she said, wiping her eyes. "Ugh…okay, I feel a lot better now. I've wanted to do that for a long time." She stood up. "Alright, well, let's get things ready. Patar will need to know how long we'll be gone."

"I'm really surprised Patar still leads the council," said Link, laughing to himself. "Wasn't he at death's door when we came for the Sword of Kings?"

"He's not _that_ old," Midna contested. "Okay, maybe he is that old, but he's still capable…" She let voice trail off and Link gave her an appraising look. "Okay," she said finally, "maybe he's not capable, but neither are any of the other councilors and he's been doing it for this long…"

That afternoon, the four of them gathered in the palace atrium. They were just about to leave when Midna stopped short.

"Where's Eoghan?" she said, darting her eyes back and forth. "He was just here."

"Eoghan!" shouted Siobhán, "get out here NOW! Don't make me hurt you!" Suddenly Eoghan appeared out of nowhere. Although they were twins, Eoghan had mastered his shadowjump ability before Siobhán.

"Sorry," he said mischievously. Eoghan was much like his father. His skin only had a faint bluish tint, his Hylian blood dominating his pigmentation. He had inherited Midna's red hair and amber-and-yellow eyes, but was otherwise identical to Link when he was fourteen.

"Eoghan," said Link, "that's fine now but you can't do that in Hyrule."

"Why not?" he whined. "It's so much fun."

"Because," he Link, "in Hyrule that isn't normal."

"So?" Eoghan retorted. "We aren't normal."

"Listen," Link said, more powerfully this time, "I am your father and I said don't do it. Understand?"

"Yes…" Eoghan began to sulk.

"Siobhán," Link said, "make sure your brother doesn't shadowjump while we're in Hyrule. Or if he does, make sure no one's around to see."

"Got it," she said with a nod. Eoghan would never dare shadowjump on this trip now. If there was one thing he feared more than anything else, it was his sister.

"Ready, Link?" said Midna. He nodded. "Alright then. Kids, come on. We're going."

Together the exited the palace and made their way across the islands to the Mirror Stone. Link and his family stepped into the portal, and Link felt a familiar pull somewhere behind his navel as everything went black. After a moment, they found themselves in the Mirror Chamber of the Arbiter's Grounds. They were in Hyrule once again.

Link was home.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Three**

"Are we staying in the castle?" asked Eoghan eagerly. "I hope so…" Midna had warped them from the Arbiter's Grounds straight to Hyrule Castle. Zelda had said that they would always be welcome there, and they had their own private quarters set aside for their personal use.

"Yes, of course," said Link, "but I do plan on spending one night in my old house and living a day of my old life."

"Why?" piped Siobhán. "Why would you want to go back to being a goat herder?"

"Well," he said, "to be honest, I kinda miss it. I mean don't get me wrong, I love my life, but there was a lot less pressure back then."

"Well, it seems silly to me," she said, looking bored.

"I'm sure it does," said Link, "but one day you may miss your younger days."

"Whatever," she said. Siobhán was bored by just about everything that she didn't take a personal interest in. However, she took what her parents said seriously, whether she showed it or not.

"You think you can still do that?" said Midna. "Link, you haven't herded a goat in fifteen years."

"Eh," he shrugged, "I'd say I've still got it. So what if I'm a bit older?"

"I wonder if they'll still recognize you," Midna mused.

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Link," she said, "you haven't been there in years, and you have a beard now. Speaking of which, you need to shave that thing off."

"Why?" he retorted, looking abashed. "I like it. It makes me look more like a king."

"Well, I hate it," she said, "and as everyone knows, it's the queen that really calls the shots. So when we get home, the beard goes. Period."

"Oh, dang," Eoghan sneered. "You just got burned, dad!"

"Yeah, yeah, enjoy it while you can, son. She won't get one over on me like that again for a while."

"She gets more over on you than you think," said Siobhán. "You just aren't around, Little Link."

"What do you -" he stopped, and then looked at Midna. "Oh, come on! What are you doing, putting things like that in her head? And besides, that's not even true!"

"Aren't we supposed to be going to see Renado?" Midna said quickly, clearly trying to change the subject.

"Yes," he said, "but this isn't over."

"Link," said Renado with a smile. He had aged considerably since Link had last seen him, or maybe it was just that it had been so long, it seemed more drastic. "It is good to see you again. What brings you here?"

"Well," he said, "I thought perhaps you could help me. I've been having these dreams, you see, troubling dreams. I've seen the best doctors in the whole Twilight Realm, but they haven't been able to help. They're incredibly gifted in the way of medicine, curing illness and healing injury, but that seems to be all they're concerned with. You understand this stuff, so that's why I thought maybe you could help."

"Dreams, you say…" Renado considered him for a moment. "Perhaps we can gather the cause, or a meaning. Describe them to me."

"They don't happen very often," Link began, "and they aren't regular, either. Usually I see a black castle during a thunderstorm. A few times I've seen a figure, like a man, but I've never been able to make out any details."

"Hmmm…" Renado considered this for a moment. "I'm not sure, Link. I believe, if there is meaning to be taken from these dreams, that the black castle you have seen represents some type of evil. Whether or not it poses a threat to Hyrule or the Twilight Realm, I cannot say."

"Well, you did better than any of the doctors from the Twilight Realm," said Link. "Well, now that that's taken care of, we can get down to visiting."

"Rise," said Zagros. An armed and armored skeleton rose to its feet to face him. "Are you the one they told me about?"

"That depends," said the skeleton. Its gravelly voice had the quality of stone rubbing against stone. "What is the name you were told?"

"Igos du Ikana," stated Zagros.

"Then the one you seek, I am," said the skeleton. "Now if I may speak, who are you to approach the king of the Ikana?"

"My name is Zagros," he said, "and I am the man who is going to turn this world upside down."

"Why do you need me, then, if you are so confident?" Igos said warily.

"I need an army," said Zagros, "and I believe you can provide me with one. I have already convinced the Garo to run as spies for me, but I need foot soldiers. I believe you can help me with this, because if the stories are true, war was the specialty of the kingdom of Ikana."

"No!" snarled Igos. "I will never ally myself with the Garo. My kingdom was at constant war with the Garo nation, and that war continues even in death. Never will we fight side by side."

"Oh, I think you will after I show you what you have to gain." Zagros broke a shifty half-smile.

"What could you possibly offer me?"

Zagros raised his hand, palm up. With his other hand, he performed a complex gesture and faced the palm towards the king of Ikana. "Look at yourself," said Zagros.

Igos du Ikana raised his hands. The shock of what he saw left him speechless. He had been dead for countless years, yet there were his hands, flesh and blood once more. His hands groped at his face, feeling the flesh and the hair. He placed his hands on his sides, feeling his ribcage expand and relax with every breath. He felt his heart beat for the first time in centuries.

"You see?" said Zagros. His eyes flashed. "I can give you life again." He let his hands drop to his sides, and immediately the king of Ikana was reduced to bones once more. "But I will only give you life if you swear allegiance to me. Put aside your war with the Garo. My plans are bigger than all of us."

"How can I be sure you will uphold your end of the deal, assuming I agree?" Igos was once again on the defensive.

"Well, that's the thing, isn't it?" Zagros was clearly amused. "You can't, but if you want to live again you have no choice but to trust me. Now, what say you?"

Igos du Ikana grunted. "I suppose I have no choice. I accept."

"Excellent," said Zagros. The wheels had begun to turn. Everything was going according to plan.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Four**

"Well damn," said Link. "I guess I won't be staying in Ordon after all."

"Why not?" Midna had no desire to stay there herself, but she knew it had been important to Link.

"Someone bought my old house," he said. He knew it had seemed silly, and that it made perfect sense for his house to be put up for sale, but he had always imagined that the people of Ordon had left it alone as like a memorial for the great hero from Ordon.

"I'm sorry, Link," said Midna, placing her hand on his shoulder, "but it makes sense. I mean, you haven't lived here for -"

"Fifteen year," he finished. "I know." He looked back up at the house. "I wonder who bought it…"

His musing was soon answered. Up the road from the village came a blond haired man who bore a striking resemblance to Link. He even carried the wooden sword that Link used to entertain the children with.

"Hello?" he said. "Who are you, and what are you doing at my house?"

"I am the King of Twilight," said Link. "I used to live here. I assume you are the new owner?"

The man stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Link for a moment. Then slowly, he made his way toward him. He eyed Link for a moment before he said, "Link?"

Link looked taken aback. "What? You know me?"

"Yes, of course," he said. "It's me, Colin."

"Co…Colin?" Link couldn't believe his eyes. "Colin, you're…grown!"

"It stands to reason," he said. "Fifteen years will do that a man. I must say, I didn't recognize you at first either. Sporting a beard now, I see."

"Not for long," chimed in Midna. "As soon as we get home, it's going."

"Sounds like she's the real power behind the throne," said Colin as he gave Link a peculiar look.

"Well," he said, "she is a woman. I guess they get the final say, right?"

"Can't argue with that," said Colin. "Well, hopefully my wife will be here pretty soon. Then we can leave the women here together while we go do manly stuff."

"You have a wife too?" Link was amazed at how much he could miss out on in fifteen years.

"I sure do," said Colin, sticking out his chest. "You remember Luda? Well, she and I got pretty close in the time that we spent in Kakariko Village. One thing led to another and, well, here we are."

"Damn," said Link. "It's hard to believe how much I can miss out on."

"Time has a way about it," Colin said. "Oh, there she is." Up the road came Luda, who was clearly extremely pregnant.

"You're a father, too?"

"Well, technically not yet," said Colin. "Should be just a couple more weeks."

"Wow," said Link. "That's great!"

"You know Link is a father, too," said Midna, not to be outdone by these light-dwellers.

"Really?" said Colin. "I didn't know that. Did you bring them with you, your children I mean."

"Yes," said Link. "This is Siobhán, and Eoghan…" He looked around. "Where is he?"

"Well," said Midna loudly, "I certainly hope he isn't hiding in anyone's shadow, because if he is, I swear to the god of _everyone_, he will be in _so much trouble!_"

Eoghan quickly came out of Siobhán's shadow. "No," he said. "I'm right here. I was behind sis."

"Uh huh," said Midna. "Well, I can't prove you were shadowjumping, so consider yourself lucky this time."

"Link," said Colin, "what does she mean 'shadowjumping'?"

"It's hard to explain," said Link. "I told him not to do it while were here, and this is partly why, but I can trust you two to keep it a secret. It's sort of like…because where he's half Twili, he can travel in and out of shadows. Like, he could go into my shadow and come out of yours, for instance. Siobhán should be able to also, but she hasn't quite mastered it yet."

"That's crazy," said Colin. "Well, if it's alright with you two," he addressed Midna and Luda, "I'd like to go spend some time catching up with Link."

"It's fine with me," said Midna.

"Sure," agreed Luda.

"Can I come?" Eoghan piped up.

"Colin?" Link gestured to him.

"Only if your dad says it's alright," said Colin.

Link considered it for a moment. "I think you should stay here. Make sure your sister doesn't get into too much trouble."

"Link," said Colin as they sat by the water's edge. "I have to be honest with you. I really wanted to talk to you about something that I think would really upset Midna. That's why I wanted it to just be us."

"Ok…" Link wasn't sure what to say. "What is it?"

"When you still lived here, did you ever get a strange feeling of sadness at twilight?"

"I did," said Link with a nod. "In fact, I remember having a conversation similar to this with your dad. It was in this same spot, in fact. He said it's because that's when the worlds of the living and the dead are closest."

"Yeah, he did say that," said Colin, "but honestly, I think there's a different reason."

"What do you think, then?"

"I think it's because it's when this world is most like the Twilight Realm. You had said before that light and dark are two sides of the same coin. Well, the sides of a coin don't touch. I don't think they're supposed to."

"What are you suggesting?" Link was getting the slightest bit aggravated.

"I just…I don't think our world and the Twilight Realm were meant to mix. I'm sorry, Link, but I've wanted to tell that to someone for a long time, just no one seems to want to listen. Not even Ilia."

"Well," said Link, "I'm sorry you feel that way. However, I do applaud your honesty, to the point that you would tell a king something he doesn't want to hear."

"With all due respect," said Colin, "you are not my king."

"I wonder what they're doing," Midna mused. "They've been gone for so long."

"Probably out fishing," said Luda. She wasn't too thrilled about being left alone with a Twili, but didn't want to be off-putting. "Colin likes to do that from time to time."

"I thought he might," said Midna. "You know he made Link his first fishing pole."

"I didn't know that," said Luda. "That was nice of him."

"I thought so," said Midna. "So, you're having Colin's baby, huh? That's exciting."

"Oh, I know," said Luda, feeling much more comfortable around Midna now that they were talking about her. "I am _so_ ready to have this baby."

"How far along are you?"

"Just two or three weeks, now," she said. "I just hope I'm a good mother."

"Trust me," said Midna, "you'll do fine. I'll be honest," she looked around to make sure Siobhán and Eoghan weren't around, "I didn't want kids when I was younger, and ours have turned out alright. You don't have anything to worry about."

"Thanks," said Luda. "You know, you Twili aren't so bad."

"What's that's supposed to mean?" Midna looked affronted.

"Nothing bad," said Luda. "It's just that your people don't have the best reputation in this world. People here equate light with good, and your world has no light, therefore you must be evil. I never thought that, and neither has my dad, but we're more open-minded, I guess."

"You know, I used to feel that way about this world," said Midna. "I used to look down on this world, and all I cared about was getting my throne back and taking revenge on my usurper. Link was just a tool for me to use in order to do that." She paused for a moment. "But Zant exposed me to the Light Spirit Lanayru, and it would've killed me had Link not risked his life to get me help. That's when I realized that this world isn't so bad. It's not home, but it's alright."

"I guess both our worlds have a lot to learn," said Luda.

"Well, Link is trying to push communication between the worlds, but the high council just drags their feet on everything and argues and never gets anything done."

"Perhaps it should change, then," said Luda thoughtfully. "Are you and Link monarchs or aren't you?"

"You know," Midna said with the look of realization, "you're right. It needs to change. The only problem is finding suitable replacements."

"Well, I'd join the council if I were on my own," said Luda.

"A light dweller on the council?" Midna considered it for a moment. "Well, that's actually not too bad of an idea. Actually, we have a light dweller as king, so why not? Luda, you're a genius."

"Thanks," she said sheepishly. "I get good ideas sometimes."

Midna noticed movement outside. "Hey, there's Link and Colin."

Link entered the house. "Midna, get the kids. We're going."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just…we have to go. Luda, it was good to see you but I'm afraid we have overstayed our welcome."

"Bring me that astronomer," said Zagros from his throne, "and tell those Gorons to get a move on. This castle was supposed to be finished by now."

"Yes, captain," said Elena. "Right away."

"Have I not told you, it's 'Your Highness'?"

"Oh, right, sorry cap – er, Your Highness," said Elena, kneeling before him. "It's just hard to get used to, after all this time of hearing 'captain'."

"No, I understand," he said. "Just be more mindful in the future."

After a wait that seemed like forever, the astronomer shuffled into the room, his stooped frame causing his robe to drag the ground.

"Master," he said, attempting to bow in spite of the pain in his joints.

"Hello again," said Zagros. "It's been a while since we last met."

"It has," said the astronomer. "You wanted to see me, master."

"Yes, I did," said Zagros. "Tell me, how long have you lived and worked in the astral observatory?"

"All my life, master," he said, "as did my father, and his father, and his father. Enough generations to span a hundred years, at least."

"I see," said Zagros. "So then, you will be well versed in the workings of technology, then?"

"Well," said the astronomer, "I don't claim to be an expert in all things. I study the stars, and the planets. That is my field of expertise."

"I like to think I am well versed in the workings of technology myself," said Zagros, "but I can't be sure. You see, the world I come from is not as technologically advanced as this one. In my world, we used magic. This world needs more magic, don't you think?"

"Permission to speak freely, master, but I think this world has had enough magic to last it, since the skull kid incident."

"Ah, yes, I have heard about that," said Zagros. "That happened somewhere around a hundred and so many odd years ago, didn't it? And the hero that saved this world, what was his name?"

"Link, I believe, master," said the astronomer, shaking with fear.

"Link…." Zagros froze for a moment. "Surely not the same…no, it couldn't be, that wouldn't make sense…but the spirit, and the goddesses…"

"I'm sorry, master? Are you speaking to me?"

"No, no…" Zagros waved a hand. "You are free to go."

The astronomer wasted no time in leaving the room, lest Zagros change his mind.

"Link…" Zagros sat in silence while the name repeated itself over and over in his brain. "Well then, I have no choice. I would have been content to rule this world and let that be that, but…well, there's nothing that can be done now. I have no choice."

"Tick tock," he said to himself as the minute wheel turned.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Five**

"Link," said Midna once they were back at Hyrule Castle, "what was that all about?"

"What was what all about?"

"When we left Ordon, you looked pissed," she said. "What happened?"

"Colin and I had a…disagreement."

"Oh really," she said. "Well, what kind of 'disagreement'."

Link let out a huge sigh, as if he'd been trying to postpone this conversation for a long time. "He said that he didn't think Hyrule should be connected with the Twilight Realm."

"Well," she said, "that doesn't sound too bad. I mean, tons of people here think that."

"Yes, but then he said that the only reason I married you was because I wanted to be a king but wasn't important enough to win Zelda over, so I settled for you instead."

"He said that?"

"Yes! So, naturally, I did what any man would do in that situation. I knocked him on his ass."

"You didn't…"

"Oh, I did," said Link. "I don't care who it is, no one talks to me like that. For one thing, I married you because you're everything to me. If I'd wanted Zelda, I would've gone after Zelda, simple as that. Second of all, you don't talk to a king like that."

"Well," she said, "I hate it that it came down to that. Maybe we should go home."

"Yes, I think that would be best."

"Well," said Midna, "go find the kids. There's something I need to talk to Zelda about before we leave."

Weeks went by, until finally the time came to hold council in the Twilight Realm once more.

"I really, really don't want to go," said Link, letting his head fall into his hands as he sat as his writing desk. "Nothing ever gets done. The councilors can never agree on anything, and Patar can't maintain order…"

"I know, Link," said Midna, annoyed at Link's annoyance. "I've been doing this longer than you have. I know what it's like."

"I wish there was a way to make it better," he said, his voice full of despair.

"Actually," said Midna, "I wanted to discuss that with you. See, when you and Colin were off debating the coexistence of the worlds, Luda and I somehow got talking about this very problem. She said that if she could, she'd join the council. It sounded crazy at first, but you're a light dweller and the King of Twilight, so why not?"

"So wait, let me get this straight," Link said as he shook his head. "You want to have Luda join the council?"

"Well, not necessarily," she said, "especially if Colin feels the way he does about us, I doubt she'd join, but I mean, why not have Hyruleans on the council? I mean, what better way to promote communication and coexistence than to have them work together in the same council chamber?"

"I like the idea," said Link, "but I wonder -"

"No one would have to know but us," Midna cut it.

"No, not that," said Link. "I was just going to say I wonder how well they would do in this world. The Twili can't go out in the light, so I wonder how the twilight would affect Hyruleans."

"Well," said Midna, "you're a light dweller and you seem to be alright."

"Maybe," he said, "but then, I'm also one of the goddesses' chosen three, and even with that, Quaron says I have the body of a 40-year-old when my actual age is 34. Granted, that's not a huge difference, but it's there nonetheless."

"So you think that maybe prolonged exposure to the twilight would kill them?"

"Possibly," he said. This was the one thing he absolutely hated about being king: everything was his fault. If Hyruleans died from being on his council, he would be blamed for their deaths.

"Well," said Midna, thinking hard, "what if there was a way around that?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well," she said, "you remember the connection that I share with Zelda?"

"Yes," he said, becoming incredibly interested with what she was saying now.

"Well," she said, "they don't have to actually come here. They can meet in Hyrule, and then Zelda can relay to me what they say. In the meantime, we take a prisoner from Hyrule that's been sentenced to death. We keep them in our prison, and if they survive for say, six months, then we'll know that the Hyrulean representatives can come here. If not, then we leave it as is."

"Well," said Link, "that's a good idea. It's better than anything I've come up with, which is nothing." Suddenly he snapped his head up as the light bulb came on. "Unless…" He turned to look Midna in the face. "What if we sent Siobhán there instead?"

"What?" Midna looked repulsed by the idea. "Are you insane? Link, she's just a child, and besides, she has no interest in politics!"

"I'm not a child," came a voice from behind them. The door opened, and sure enough, there was Siobhán.

"How long have you been there?" It seemed to Link and Midna that all their daughter did was eavesdrop.

"Long enough," she said, "and maybe I'm not that interested in politics, but I want to help."

"No," said Midna. "You're too young to be worrying about things like this."

"Too young? Dad was off saving the world when he was eighteen. I'm only four years younger than that, that's not that much of a difference, and I won't be doing anything dangerous. Besides, I can go out in the light."

"She's right," said Link. "She'll be perfectly safe with Zelda there, and she can go out in the light."

"If you want to send someone there instead," said Midna, "why don't you go yourself?"

"Because, Midna, I have a kingdom to run," he shot back, "and while I know you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself, the people expect me to be their king."

"I'll be fine, mom," said Siobhán. "It's like dad said, I'll be fine with Zelda around, and I can defend myself if I have to. I've got pretty good control over shadow magic."

"Fine," said Midna, throwing her hands in the air. "Go. Go be our ambassador to Hyrule. But Link," she said, looking him dead in the eyes, "if something happens to her…." She thought for a moment. "Well, you just better hope nothing happens to her."

"Tell me," said Zagros to the red haired woman at the Stock Pot Inn, "have you heard of a boy called Link?"

"I have heard of him," she said nervously. "My grandfather used to tell me stories that his father, Kafei, told him of a boy named Link that helped him reunite with his fiancée."

"A boy, you say," said Zagros keenly. "Tell me, was he from Termina or somewhere else?"

"No one knows where he came from," she said, "only where he did not come from, and that was here."

"So," said Zagros as he paced the room. "This Link was not a Terminan, yet he came here and saved your world, so the stories say. What did he look like?"

"He was a boy," she said, "no older than ten years. My grandfather said that he was always told the boy had blond hair and wore green clothes."

Zagros' eyes narrowed. "Then it is the same Link…" The girl was starting to sweat with nerves. "Very well, you are free to go."

Zagros returned to his newly finished throne room at the top of what had been the clock tower in the center of Clock Town, but was now the center of Zagros' castle. He watched his clock, which still fascinated him even after fifteen years, as he sat in his throne, contemplating his next move.

"If it is the same Link," he said to himself, "then it is clear what I must do. Link is to blame for everything. If I had not trusted him, I would not be here. If he had not inherited the Triforce of Courage, he would not have been able to stop my father the last time he tried to take Hyrule, and if that had not happened, he would not have been possessed by the demon Majora. This is all Link's fault. So then, what shall I do…?" He began wringing his hands as he thought. "Clearly, I have only one option. I must achieve that which my father failed to do. I will subjugate Hyrule, and then…" He became engrossed in thought. "Yes…it's brilliant. Hyrule will fall before me, as it fell before him. Then, I will raise the dead of Hyrule, and they will join ranks with the undead of this land. Then, I will launch an undead army upon the Twilight Realm. Then that world will fall, and Link will die." He smiled a wide smile, showing all of his white teeth. "Better yet, I will steal the monarchs of those worlds and force them to watch their worlds fall. It will be perfect."

He watched the wheels of his clock turn.

"Tick tock, tick tock, Link. Time is running out for you."


	6. Chapter 6

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Six**

"Alright, Siobhán," said Link, "it's your big day." The time had come for council to convene, so Siobhán was heading to Hyrule to act as the liason for the Hyrulean members of the Twilight Realm's high council. "Are you all ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she said. In all honesty, she was terrified of the thought of going to Hyrule on her own, not because she thought it was dangerous, but because there really wouldn't be anyone there that she knew besides Zelda.

"You know how to use the Mirror portal, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said hesitantly. "I mean, you just stand there, right?"

"Well," Link said, thinking for a moment, "yeah, I guess that really is all there is to it. Ok then, sounds like you're ready to go."

Link took her to the Mirror portal. "You're mom isn't happy about this at all," he said, "but I think you'll be fine. You know how to use shadow magic if you have to, and Zelda will be there, along with Ralis and Gor Coron, and whoever else. They'll look out for you, so there's no need to worry."

"I know, dad," she said.

"Alright then, well," he said with a heavy sigh, "see you later."

Siobhán stepped into the Mirror portal and instantly found herself, not in the Arbiter's Grounds as she had expected, but the grounds to Hyrule Castle.

"When did this happen?" she wondered aloud. "Oh well, it's that much less I have to travel."

She made her way inside the Castle to the designated meeting place. Once inside, she saw several familiar faces. Of course there was Zelda, but there was also, as Link had said, King Ralis of the Zora and the Goron elder Gor Coron, but there was also a woman she did not recognize, along with Renado and, to her surprise, Luda.

"Luda?" she said in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"Serving on the Twilight Realm's council, of course," she said with a smile. "It's good to see you, Siobhán."

"It's good to see you too," she said, still not able to believe that Luda was here, "but I thought you said you weren't going to join because of Colin."

"Well, I did say that," she said, "but then I decided to follow my gut. I want the worlds to cooperate, and if Colin doesn't like it, sorry about him."

"Well good," said Siobhán. "We need more women like you. So, I recognize your dad, Ralis, and Gor Coron, but who is that other woman there, with the blonde hair?"

"That's Ilia," she said. "I don't know if you've ever met her or not. Anyway, they decided to have a representative from each of the major cities, and Ilia is the representative for Old Kakariko. Her husband is the mayor of that city, so he couldn't attend. She came in his place. I came as the representative from Ordon."

"I see," said Siobhán. "This kinda sucks, though. I mean, there's reps from all over Hyrule, but then there's just me to speak for the entire Twilight Realm."

"Don't worry, Siobhán," said Zelda from out of nowhere. "You need not speak unless it is your desire to do so. Your main role here is to simply listen and take the minutes of this meeting back to the council in the Twilight Realm."

"Oh," she said. "Well, that's a relief."

The meeting was soon underway. Unlike at home, everyone here seemed to get along and know how to communicate properly. Everything was running smoothly until finally there came a knock at the door.

"I wonder who this could be," said Zelda quietly. She made her way to the door, and upon opening it, the room was filled with thick, purple fog. Siobhán couldn't see anything, but she could hear screaming, so she dropped to the floor instinctively. From under the haze, she could see a thick knot of skeletal legs shuffling around. As soon as it had happened, it was over, and the fog dissipated. She could then see all the representatives, minus herself, unconscious on the floor, with Zelda nowhere in sight. One skeletal minion remained, either by mistake or by order. She tried to get out of sight, but she was too slow. It saw her, and advanced. Soon it was upon her. She tried to think of a spell to use against it, but her mind had gone blank. She shut her eyes, bracing herself for what was about to happen, but instead of feeling her flesh be rent apart, she heard the sound of a blade cleaving the thing in half. She opened her eyes, and was filled with a mix of thankfulness and anger.

"Eoghan!" she shouted. "What are you doing? You aren't supposed to be here! How long have you been here anyhow?"

"I've been in your shadow the whole time," he said. "I wanted to come too, but I knew mom and dad wouldn't let me if I asked."

"Eoghan, you know you aren't supposed to be here," she snarled.

"Yeah," he said, "but aren't you glad I am? That thing would've pounded you into dust if I hadn't got it."

"Yeah, I guess so, but they'll have noticed you're gone by now, and then I'll be in trouble."

"Oh well," said Eoghan. "At least it'll be you and not me."

"Oh thanks," she said. "Well, come one. We'd better get home and find out what dad wants to do about this."

Eoghan obediently jumped into his sister's shadow, and she made her way out of the castle back to the Mirror of Twilight. As she stepped into the portal, she felt uneasy. Something was not right. When she emerged on the other side, she saw the Palace of Twilight, but it was burning. Thick black flames issued from the palace's towers, and purple smoke billowed into the twilit sky. When she reached the palace island, she found a familiar old Twili lying prone in the street.

"Patar?" she said frantically. "What's going on? What happened to you?"

"Take…this…" he said, and he handed her a note as he struggled to breathe. "I'm afraid…I can't go on…anymore. Your parents…were taken…." He coughed up a massive glob of blood. "You must…become…the heroes." Patar laid his head down on the pavement, and his breathing faded away.

"So Patar is dead?" said Eoghan, popping out of Siobhán's shadow.

"I'm afraid so," she said, willing herself not to cry. "He gave me this. I wonder what it is." She opened her hand to reveal a folded bit of parchment. She unfolded it to find a note which read:

_**"Dear Siobhán and Eoghan,**_

_**Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, I am afraid it was necessary to remove your parents and princess Zelda from their positions. They are now with me in my clockwork city. Unless it is your wish to die and early and painful death, do not expect to see them again. You were born of two worlds, and they will both fall to me.**_

_**Love,**_

_**Emperor Zagros**_

"Emperor Zagros…" Siobhán said to herself. "Who is that?"

"Who knows," said Eoghan, "but he's got mom and dad. We've got to do something."

"What can we do, Eoghan?" she cried desperately. "We're just kids!"

"Wasn't it you who said you weren't a kid anymore?" Eoghan reminded her.

"Yes," she said, "but that was different."

"No it isn't," he said defiantly. "It isn't any different anymore. You heard Patar. 'You must become the heroes'. He said it himself. It's up to us to save the worlds. Together we can do it. You can use magic, and I've got a sword. We can do it!"

"I dunno, Eoghan," she said, her voice full of despair. "Where would we even start?"

"We can…" he stopped for a moment, realizing that he hadn't thought that far ahead. Then it hit him. "We can go to Telma's bar! She'll be able to help us."

"Well," said Siobhán, "I don't guess we've got much of a choice, and I haven't got any better ideas." She stood up. "Alright then, let's go."

"So," said Zagros, "what of your mission?"

"All three prisoners have been captured," said Igos du Ikana. "They are being detained in the holding cells below the castle, sir."

"Excellent," said Zagros. "Now it is only a matter of time before their worlds fall under my rule."

"Now, master, if I may speak," said Ikana. "I have upheld my end of the bargain. Now I believe it is only fair that you uphold yours."

"Come again?"

"Life, master," he said. "You promised the people of the great and ancient kingdom of Ikana new life."

"Ah, yes," said Zagros. "So I did. I'm afraid I can't do that, Igos. You aren't finished with your duties, you see."

"Not finished?" Ikana stood dumbstruck. "I have performed all of my tasks to the letter. The monarchs of Hyrule and the Twilight Realm have been captured. I believe it is only fair -"

"You aren't finished," Zagros cut in. "Yes, you have performed admirably, Igos, but my plans are not yet finished. You will lead your men in battle against Hyrule. That is not too much to ask, I think."

Ikana considered it for a moment. "No, master. You are correct. The Ikana specialize in war. We will execute the siege of Hyrule without fail."

"That's what I thought you would say." Zagros turned his back to the king of Ikana. "Leave me, Igos. I have other matters to worry about."

Ikana bowed and left the room. Zagros exited the room as well, but through a different door. He was then in a room with a long workbench, piled with pieces of metal and wood and stone, along with tools of all sorts.

"Now," he said to himself, "let's see if this works." He went over to a massive machine on the far side of the room, turned a series of knobs, and then pulled a large lever. The machine started to shake, giving off an indescribable noise. Soon, a pipe leading out of the machine began to glow. The light inside the pipe followed it up and across the ceiling to the other side of the room, to a smaller enclosure. Through the window in the enclosure, he could see blindingly bright purple light.

"Alright," said Zagros. "That seems to work fine." He turned off the machine, and the light was no more.

"Now, let's see if it actually does what it's supposed to do." He took a small object from a shelf in the room. It greatly resembled a bat, with two sheets of metal attached to a wooden sphere, riddled with metal pieces of clockwork. He turned a cog on one end, and the metal pieces moved up and down. He took the little thing over to the enclosure and placed it inside. Then he pulled the lever. Again, blinding purple light traveled from the machine through the pipe and into where the mechanical bat sat. Then came the sound of metal colliding with metal. Zagros turned off the machine and opened the door to the enclosure. The little mechanical bat zoomed out and began to fly around the room of its own accord. It lighted on the shelf where it had sat previously, and Zagros gave a satisfied grin.

"It worked…" he said to himself. "Excellent. Now it is only a matter of time." He turned to face the clock he had mounted in the workshop, and watched its minute wheel rotate. "Tick tock."


	7. Chapter 7

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Seven**

"We need to find Telma's bar," said Eoghan. They had tried to wake the council members, but try as they might, their efforts were in vain.

"You you even know where it is?" said Siobhán. "I've heard Dad mention it but I don't think he's ever actually said where it is."

"It's here in Castle Town," he said matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?"

"I've been there before," he said. Siobhán looked abashed. "Course, Dad didn't know it. I was in his shadow the whole time."

"You…how long have you been able to do that?" Although she was already fourteen, Siobhán still hadn't managed to master the shadowjump technique.

"Since we were ten," he said with a smirk. "Anyhow, that's not important. What is important is that we get to her bar. There's bound to be someone there that can help us."

They set off through Castle Town towards Telma's bar, Eoghan leading the way. As they twisted and turned through the city, Siobhán couldn't help but wonder what they'd gotten themselves into. After a few minutes they reached the side street that led to the bar.

"Down here," said Eoghan. They went down a set of steps and found themselves in front of the door.

"Are you sure about this?" Siobhán said hesitantly. "I'm not sure that a bar is the best place for us to be."

"Of course I'm sure," he said. "Now do you want to save Mom and Dad or not?" Reluctantly Siobhán allowed her twin to open the door, and followed him inside.

"What are you kids doing here?" shouted the landlady. She was a swarthy woman, with flaming red hair and olive complexion along with an ample bosom, and had the overall appearance of Gerudo descent. She wore three jewels under each eye, which did a wonderful job of hiding the wrinkles that were starting to appear from age. "This is a bar! This is no place for kids!"

"Sorry, Telma, but we didn't know where else to go," said Eoghan. Of the two of them, he was much more comfortable with dealing with people.

"Alright, I'll bite," said Telma. "How do you know my name?"

"I've been here before."

"Oh, yes, very likely," she scoffed. "Son, if you'd have been here before…for one thing, you'd have been kicked out. Second of all, I'd have remembered you. You look just like a boy I used to know. A fine swordsman he was, and handsome, too. Mmmmm…and he was brave, too. Braver than any of the poor excuses for soldiers what hung around here back then. Link was his name, and you look just like him, save for that red hair of yours."

"Well, he's my dad."

"No kidding?" Telma looked shocked, but not too surprised either. "Well, that does make sense, considering how much you look alike. And who is this?" She nodded towards Siobhán.

"That's my sister Siobhán," he said. "We're twins."

"Yeah, you look about the same age," said Telma. "Well, if you're Link's kids, I suppose it's alright for you to come in. Just don't expect to get anything with alcohol in it. You may be royal kids, but you're still kids, and I don't make exceptions."

"That's fine," said Eoghan. "We were actually hoping you could help us."

"Help you?" Telma sized him up. "Help you how?"

"I remember Dad saying how there was a group of adventurers that meets here. I thought maybe you could direct us to them."

"Well, kid," she said, pouring herself a rack of gin, "if you want the group that was here when he came around, you're out of luck." She took a drink. "Rusl is in retirement, Auru is dead, Ashei has gone off adventuring outside of Hyrule, and no one knows what happened to Shad. He just disappeared one day."

"So there's no one left?" Siobhán looked dismayed. "Great. Well, so much for that plan."

"Well," said Telma, "I wouldn't say 'no one'. Rusl's boy comes by sometimes."

"Colin?" Eoghan looked up.

"That's the one," said Telma. "He's been coming to Castle Town for sword training."

"Yeah, well, he wouldn't help us if we asked," said Siobhán dismally. "He hates the Twilight Realm and everyone in it."

"Why do you think that?" asked Eoghan.

"I heard Mom talking about it with Dad."

"Well," said Telma, "there is someone else."

"Who?" the twins said in unison.

"Me," said a voice from somewhere behind them. They turned around to find a pale, thin girl of about fifteen years, with chin length platinum blonde hair. She wore a tunic of spring green that came to just above the knee with light blue embroidery on the hem, wrist, and collar. Her most striking feature was her red eyes.

"So you're Link's kids, huh?" she said. "I can believe it from you," she said gesturing to Eoghan, "but you," she said to Siobhán, "I'll have to take on faith."

"Sorry, but who are you?" Siobhán gave her a distrustful look.

"The name's Cailin," she said, "but all my friends call me Cal."

"Well, maybe you can help us," said Eoghan eagerly. "See, our parents and Zelda are in trouble, but we don't think we can save them on our own."

"Hmmm," Cal thought about it for a moment. "Well, your parents helped me so much before, I think I owe it to them. Sure, count me in."

"Well there you go," said Telma. "You've got some help now."

"See," said Eoghan, "I told you we could find help here."

"Well, we'll see." Something about Cal just didn't settle well with Siobhán, although she couldn't put her finger on what.

"So when do we get started?" Cal said, clapping her hands together.

"Now!" Eoghan exclaimed. "Come on, there's no time to lose!"

"Alright, men," said Igos du Ikana, "Lord Zagros said we would find a field just like the one in Termina. That is where we must go."

Through the forest went the ranks of undead soldiers led by their king. Up ahead was a building, with a fire pit just outside, complete with a pot over the pit. The king of Ikana strode over and bashed in the door to find a small man with an afro cowering in the corner.

"Take whatever you want!" he cried. "Just…just don't kill me!"

"I am not here to kill you," said the undead king. "All I need is for you to tell me the way to Hyrule field. Tell me what I wish to know and I will leave you in peace."

"Just…" stammered the terrified man, "just keep on the way you were and you'll find it. It's that easy."

"Excellent," said Ikana. "Very well, you have been useful." A man of his word, the Ikana troops continued on their way, sparing the man's life. Finally they came upon the field.

"Now," said Ikana, "we wait for the master's orders."


	8. Chapter 8

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Eight**

"Why don't you all eat something before you're on your way," Telma suggested. "Sounds to me like you've got an adventure ahead of you."

"Good idea," said Siobhán, still eyeing Cailin warily. "What are our options?"

"Whatever you like, honey," said Telma. "You name it, I've got it."

"Well, in that case…" she let her voice trail off as she thought, "I think I'd like fried eggs. That sounds pretty good."

"Me too!" shouted Eoghan excitedly. "With…with bacon, and sausage, and-"

"Why don't I just fix you a Full Monty?"

"What's a Full Monty?" he said. In all the years he'd been alive, all fourteen of them, he'd never heard of such a thing.

"Well," Telma began, "in the past fifteen years, Shad has been conducting more and more planar research. He's discovered several other worlds like this one. It was one of those worlds that this breakfast comes from. He said the people there called the world 'Earth', and told him that he was in a kingdom called 'England'. So he traveled England, until he came to another kingdom the people called 'Scotland'. He traveled that land too, and eventually crossed the water to another kingdom, called 'Ireland'. Eventually he came home, and he said to me, he said 'Telma, you've got to start offering this food at your bar,' so I did."

"Ok, well what's in it?"

"Right," she said. "A Full Monty at my establishment is where I combine everything that goes into what they call a Full English, Full Scottish, and Full Irish breakfast, so you're looking at having fried eggs, rashers, sausage, fried tomatoes, fried potatoes, black pudding, white pudding, bubble and squeak, if I've got any, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, oatcakes, liver, haggis, potato scones, soda bread, and toast. Think you can handle all that?"

"Sure thing!" he said enthusiastically.

"You might want to fix extra," Siobhán added. "This boy can put away an outrageous amount of food."

"The usual for me," said Cailin. "Nothing fancy."

"So how do you know our parents?" said Siobhán, as Eoghan shoveled away food.

"I was with them through the Twilight crisis," said Cailin. "It affected me in the same way it did your dad, so I stuck with them."

"So, wait," said Siobhán, "how do you mean the same way it affected Dad?"

"Well, you know how your father fulfilled the Twilight prophecy about the blue-eyed beast…" Siobhán nodded. "Well, I was also turned into a beast, only I was white with red eyes. I didn't fit the prophecy, but it was worth noting that I didn't pass into spirit form like just about everyone else."

"Speaking of that," Siobhán added gingerly, "why are your eyes red?"

"That's something I'd really rather not get into," she said. "All I'll say is that I'm a magic user. Let's just leave it at that."

The two of them said nothing after that, instead turning to watch in awe and disgust as Eoghan consumed more food than any fourteen-year-old should be allowed. Finally Siobhán spoke again.

"Wait a minute, you said you were with our parents during the Twilight crisis." She gave Cailin a leery look. "How is that possible? You barely look older than us."

"What's it matter? I remember everything that happened then, here I am now, and that's all there is to it." She paused for a moment. "I can tell you have some kind of problem with me, so what is it?"

"Who said anything about that," Siobhán said, looking away, clearly trying to avoid the topic.

"Look," said Cailin, "if you've got something to say, just say it."

"No," replied Siobhán. "I've got nothing to say." She turned to look at Eoghan. "Are you about done, you fat piggy?"

"Jusbouw…" he said through a mouthful of soda bread. Finally he choked the last of it down. "Alright, I'm done. So now what's the plan?"

"We rescue Mom, Dad, and Zelda, of course," Siobhán chided.

"I know that," he said, "but how do we do that when we don't even know where to start?"

"We have this letter from Zagros, remember?" She turned to Cailin. "You, you wouldn't happen to know who Zagros is, would you?"

"No," she said, "but Telma might. Then again, she might not. It's hard to say."

"Telma might what?" Telma inquired. The little group didn't know that she'd been listening.

"I was just saying you might know who this Zagros person is," said Cailin. "You wouldn't happen to, would you?"

"Zagros," she said thoughtfully. "I haven't heard that name in a long time. Yeah, I know who he is, but I've never met him."

"Alright, well what do you know?" Siobhán probed.

"All I know is that he and I are related, but I'm not proud of it. He's my great-great uncle, unfortunately. He's Ganondorf's son."

"So that means," Eoghan started.

"I told you I wasn't proud of it," she said, "but yes. I'm a descendent of Ganondorf as well."

"Oh," said Cailin. "Well, that isn't good."

"Why not?" said Eoghan. Although he tried to hide it, there was fear in his eyes.

"Well, your dad killed Ganondorf," she began. "If I had to guess, I'd say he'll want revenge. I bet it's only a matter of time before he tries to take over Hyrule just like his father."

"Well," said Telma, "looks like you've got some big shoes to fill, you two, and you'll need to."

"Well, if you were able to help dad, you could help us, too," said Eoghan enthusiastically.

"Of course she can," Siobhán said to herself. Although she couldn't place it, there was something about Cailin that she just didn't like at all.

"Master, you have arrived." Igos du Ikana bowed low.

"Indeed I have," said Zagros. "Tell me, what of the conquest of this land?"

"We have not proceeded," said Ikana. "We have waited here for you to arrive, to direct us in exactly the way you wish."

"I like your judgment," said Zagros. "I'm sure you were an effective king in life. I believe…well, why not? We're already here."

"Begging your pardon, master," said Ikana, "but what is your plan?"

"I had planned to take Hyrule proper, and even though it's only an annex province, let's go ahead and take Ordon while we're here." He grinned wickedly. "I'm sure they have dead there, too."

"Shall we send out a fabricant?"

"Yes, I think so," said Zagros. "Continuity, you know."

His dark red curls bristled in the ill wind. He pulled his cloak forward on his shoulders and directed his attention to the field.

"And so it begins," he said.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Nine**

"Ok, so where are you from?" Eoghan asked Cailin enthusiastically. Since their meeting in Telma's bar, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her.

"Castle Town," she said dryly. "Why?"

"I just wondered," he said, looking a bit downcast at her lack of elaboration. "So you're Hylian, then, or at least from Hyrule."

"Yep, I'm Hyrulean for sure," she said, and left it at that. Then she turned to Siobhán. "So, what do you suggest we do first?"

"I dunno, you tell me," she said as she examined her fingernails before looking up at Cailin. "You're the expert in this field, right?"

"Sorry I asked," she said, "but if it's up to me, I say we get some better equipment, at least for Eoghan. He needs a better sword than that thing if he's going to do any real fighting. I'm not sure what to tell you, though. I don't really know anything about shadow magic."

"I can handle it," Siobhán said nonchalantly. "Anyhow, were do you suggest we get him a new sword?"

"The Hyrule Castle vaults, of course!" Cailin declared exuberantly. "There's all kinds of great stuff down there, and I know for a fact that they kept all the artifacts related to the Hero of Time."

"So what's that have to do with my brother?" Siobhán demanded.

"Well," Cailin began, "after the Hero returned to his childhood, he left Hyrule. When he returned, he had a new gilded sword. I think that sword would be perfect for Eoghan."

"So I'll get to use a sword that the Hero of Time used?" he piped up excitedly.

"That's right," she affirmed. "Better yet, that sword was designed to never break, which is why it's still in such good condition."

"Well," Siobhán said in resignation, "I guess we'd better get going then, hadn't we?"

After a quick trip back through Castle Town and a long game of the blind leading the blind through Hyrule Castle, they finally found the entrance to the vaults. The massive granite doors loomed over them, daring them to go any further.

"Alright," Cailin said to herself, "let's see if I can remember how to get in here…" After a few moments, she finally had the doors open. "Now we just have to sift through all the artifacts down here."

They began searching everything. Among the items they encountered on their quest to find the Gilded Sword were a mask bearing the Sheikah eye symbol, a magical lens, a conductor's baton, and an odd, angular stone that gave off a faint vibration.

"Hey, what's this?" Eoghan called from the other side of the room.

"What's it look like?" his sister shouted back.

"I dunno. It's like, a piece of wood."

"Well then it's a damn piece of wood, you _nalehecath_!" Siobhán shouted back, aggravated.

"No, wait," said Cailin, as if she'd just had an epiphany. "Let me see it." She skipped over to where Eoghan stood so she could get a better look. When she laid her eyes on what he had found, she beamed.

"Well done, Eoghan," she cheered. "This is the shield the Hero used as a child. See this red design? That's the emblem of the Kokiri."

"What's the Kokiri?" he puzzled.

"They were a race of forest-dwellers back in the Hero's day. He was left there as a newborn so that he would be safe from the civil war that was going on at the time, so he was raised as a Kokiri even though he was Hylian. Now if I'm not mistaken…" She sifted through the heaping mounds of accumulation. "Yes! Here it is! Not really the way you'd expect to find something like this, but either way, this is the Gilded Sword." She hefted the sword in its sheath and then handed it to Eoghan. "Try it out."

He took the sword and removed it from the sheath, which pelted them all with dust. Although it was long, he found the sword to be light and perfectly balanced. He gave it a few swings and then slid it back into its sheath, which he then slung over his back.

"You might want to take this, too," said Cailin, as she handed him a Hylian shield she had found in the refuse. "This was the standard issue shield for the Knights of Hyrule in those days, and still is today, in fact."

Eoghan accepted the shield as well, hanging it on his back with the sword.

"You really take after Link," said Cailin wistfully. "You look just like him when he was your age, I'll bet, save your hair and your eyes, of course. It won't be long before you look like the Link I remember…" She let her voice trail off as she lost herself to the nostalgia, which was promptly broken by Siobhán.

"So are we going?" she demanded impatiently. "I hate to ruin your trip down Memory Lane, but our parents and the princess are in trouble, in case you've forgotten."

"You're right, you're right," Cailin said as she snapped back to reality. She shook her head a few times just for good measure. "Alright then, let's get moving. Perhaps we should head to Kakariko next? Renado might be able to help us out."

"Sounds good to me," Eoghan said, looking very much like a hero. Together they left the vaults, not wasting any time. The adventure of a lifetime was ahead of them, and wasn't going to wait.

Just a quick note: when they're going through the artifacts in the vaults, you may have conjectured as to what those things were. If you guessed the Mask of Truth, the Lens of Truth, and the Wind Waker, you are correct. The Sheikah artifacts should make sense, since they appeared in OoT and MM. In the case of the Wind Waker (and I had to look it up just to be sure I could use it), the baton is used by the King of Hyrule to conduct the Sages in their song to the goddesses. Because it was used by the king, even though it doesn't belong to the same timeline as TP, it can be assumed that the Wind Waker existed before the events of The Wind Waker.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Ten**

"Alright, so what now?" said Eoghan, once the trio had once again returned to Telma's bar.

"Well, we find a way to save our parents and Zelda, obviously," chided Siobhán.

"Obviously," he retorted, "but where do we start. What brilliant idea have you got for that?" She sat silent for a moment. "None," she finally stated.

"Ok, then," he said. "What about you, eh Cal? Got any ideas?"

"Hmmm…." She let herself go in thought. Finally she came back to reality. "The only thing I can really think of right at the moment is to drop in at Ordon. There may be something or someone there that could be useful."

"Well," said Siobhán in resignation, "we've got no better options."

"Let's do it, then," said Eoghan. Together they made their way out of the bar into the buzzing streets of Castle Town.

The sun was setting on Hyrule, giving way to a warm summer night. The sounds of the city were far behind them, replaced now by the sound of insects and the night. They had set up a small camp in the southern portion of Hyrule Field, and were sitting around the fire Siobhán had produced.

"Why is it green?" Eoghan mused as he stared into the fire. "Every time you make fire, it's always green."

"I like green," she answered with contempt. "You got a problem with it?"

"No," he said as he hung his head.

Cailin had been sitting in silence, listening to the twins go on like that for nearly an hour. Finally she had had enough.

"Are you always like this?"

"What do you mean?" Siobhán said, looking affronted.

"I mean, ever since we started this endeavor you've been so bitter. I know you've got some problem with me even though you won't admit it, and you've always got something nasty to say to Eoghan, even though he's done nothing wrong."

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," Siobhán said with disdain. "Furthermore, I'm appalled that you would slander me like that with such accusations."

"Alright, look," said Cailin, shaking her head, "I really could not care less about whatever you have to say about me, but I don't understand how you can sleep at night knowing how you treat Eoghan."

"You think I owe you an explanation for anything?" Siobhán cried as she got to her feet, her voice cutting through the still night. "Well, I don't. I'll see you two in the morning. I've had enough of this." She turned on her heel and stormed off.

"I can tell you exactly why she's like that," said Eoghan once his sister was out of earshot. "She thinks she's better than us."

"But why, though?" Her eyes still lingered where Siobhán had just stood. "What reason could she possibly have that would make her better than us?"

"She resents her Hylian blood. She thinks the Twili are superior to the people of Hyrule, I guess because up until the thing with Zant there was never any war among the Twili, and there hasn't been since. You're definitely Hylian, and I look Hylian enough to pass for one."

"That's ridiculous," said Cailin as she furrowed her brow. "Blood doesn't make anyone better than anyone else."

"Try telling that to her," Eoghan spat, "not that it'd do you much good."

"I know…" Cailin let her voice trail off. "Well, we might as well bed down for the night. We've still got a ways to go."

"You're right," he said awkwardly. "Well…I guess I'll see you in the morning, then."

As he made his way over to where his sister lay sleeping, Cailin couldn't help but wonder how two people so unalike could be related. Then again, it wasn't a thought that couldn't wait until morning…

None of them spoke the whole rest of the way to Ordon. Siobhán was still fuming from the events of the previous night, and Eoghan was afraid of what his sister might say to him if he tried to speak to her or Cailin, who didn't feel like hearing the sound of Siobhán's voice. She knew that confronting Siobhán would do no good, and she also knew that speaking to Eoghan would result in having to listen to Siobhán rant and rave until she was bluer in the face than she already was, so she remained silent. When they finally spied the forest ahead of them, something seemed amiss. It was Eoghan who recognized first what was wrong.

"There's smoke coming out of the trees," he said. "I wonder, was there a fire?"

"Of course there was, you idiot!" Siobhán chided. "There can't be smoke without fire."

"You'd be surprised what there can be," Cailin said dryly. "Well, we'd better go check it out."

They were met with horror once they entered the forest. Where Coro's house had once stood, there was burning rubble. Coro, on the other hand, was in several places around the area. His arms, legs, and other body parts lay scattered all over, and his head was mounted on a pike in front of them, a look of pure terror on his face. They cautiously passed Coro's head and continued on through the forest, the smoke getting thicker and thicker the further they went. Finally they reached Ordon. There stood Link's old house, the ladder torn away, and the gate to the village was missing as well. The smoke was so thick now it was hard to breathe, and even more difficult to see. They crouched lower to the ground, beneath the smoke, and crept into the village. What they saw there made Cailin vomit.

"This is horrible," said Siobhán, with a hint of what sounded like sympathy for the people of Ordon. The village lay in ruin, with every house burned to the ground and debris everywhere. "What could have done this?"

"That!" shouted Eoghan, and immediately they saw what he had seen. A huge, hulking something was lumbering across the village towards them. Its four legs carried it with an odd, jerking gait. As it came closer they could see it in better detail. It had the shape of a sort of four-legged scorpion, with two long arms protruding from its front and back, and a massive tail curling over its enormous body. Its carapace was smooth and shone like brass. Its tail was segmented and covered in rectangular armored plates. At the end of its tail, where there would normally be a sting, there was instead a kind of hollow tube with its end open. At the end of its arms were massive, wicked blades. The two on the back were straight, like the swords carried by the Knights of Hyrule; those on the front had curved double blades, reminiscent of two sickles facing each other. Despite its size and jerking gait, it moved with incredible speed, and soon it was close enough to see that it legs ended in deadly spikes, and it had no visible eyes. Before they had time to register what the thing was, a great jet of fire exploded from the tube at the end of its tail, directly towards them. Without thinking, Eoghan seized Cailin and his sister and vanished into the shadow of a nearby tree, emerging on the other side of the village.

"Dear Gods," panted Cailin, "what is that thing?"

"I don't know," said Eoghan, in a steady voice that belied the terror that his eyes showed. "I'd hate to get on the wrong side of it, although I think it's safe to say we know what ruined this village." Then he got to his feet and drew his sword and shield.

"What are you doing?" his sister demanded.

"I'm going to kill it," he said. "It's what Dad would've done. He wouldn't have given it a second thought."

"Well, you aren't Dad," she insisted, "so just stay put."

"No!" he protested. "I know you think I'm worthless, but someone has to do something."

"I don't think –"

"Don't give me that," he spat. He didn't want the words to be coming out of his mouth, but it was too late. "You talk down to me all the time, you don't really care about what happens to me, and you treat me like a servant. Well, it won't happen anymore. I'm taking charge while that thing is out there trying to kill us, since you aren't doing anything."

"Is that so?" she hissed. Her words were filled with venom. "Well, Mr. Hero, what exactly do you propose we do about that thing, huh?"

"I already have it worked out," he said. "I just have to get in close to it and avoid its blades."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I'll summon a force field to keep its arms from reaching him," Cailin interjected.

"And you," said Eoghan to his sister, "will use the magic of our people to plug that fire spout on its tail."

"Oh, will I?" Siobhán mused. "Hmm…you know, I don't think I'm up to it. I'm awfully tired, and magic uses up a lot of energy. I think I'll have to sit this one out."

"Whatever," was Eoghan's response. Without another look back, he rushed towards the monstrosity with his shield held high. Although the thing had no eyes, it somehow was aware of his presence, and with unprecedented agility, turned to face him. In a flash its tail was arched over its back, and Eoghan had just enough time to duck behind his shield before another stream of fire was upon him. When it ceased, he darted in and out, trying to get near its core, but a blade caught him at every turn, with just enough window of opportunity for him to evade. After a few rounds of cat-and-mouse, the brassy scorpion leaped backwards, allowing it enough room for another blast of fire.

"He's doing good," Cailin said to no one in particular. "If he could just get in close enough, he could do it."

"Well," Siobhán said to herself, "he's not doing good enough." With that she shut her eyes, raised her hands, and began to work the magic of the Twili. Shadow energy from all around gathered to her, and once she was satisfied, she thrust her hand towards the scorpion.

Again the monstrosity backed away from Eoghan. He raised his shield, waiting for the blast of fire, but it didn't come. He looked up over the rim of his shield, and to his surprise he saw the beast's tail arched over its back, but the hole at the end of its tail was covered in a thick black substance.

_Maybe she's not so bad_, he thought as he rushed forward. The scorpion lashed out with its sickle blades, but he rolled and dodged around them. Finally he was able to get close enough to jump up onto its smooth, brassy carapace. With the Gilded Sword in hand, he cleaved through the blade stalks on its back. With a horrible sound, like a cuirass being hewn apart, they fell to the ground. He then drove the blade down into its back. The scorpion hissed and jerked, until finally it fell to the ground. As it lay there, sparks flew out of the wounds on its body, and a shiny black liquid coated the grass around it.

Siobhán and Cailin rushed to him, both beaming. It was almost as if their fight from the previous night had never happened.

"I thought you didn't feel like using magic," Eoghan said to his sister as he pushed the hair that was plastered to his brow back.

"Well," she said, "you were doing terribly out there."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically. He then turned to Cailin. "What happened to you creating a force field?"

"After seeing you move like that, I could see that you didn't need it," she said. "I have faith in you." For the first time in a long time, a genuine smile spread across his face.

"Thanks," he said. "I don't understand what this thing is, though. I thought it was just some armored monster scorpion thing, but it isn't even alive. It's made completely out of metal."

"I don't know either," said Cailin, "but whatever it is, it's dead now."

They stood there, relieved that the metal monster had been destroyed. Unfortunately, their happy moment was cut short, though, because just then they heard voices coming from the ranch.

"How long will it take them to get back to Mechanus?" said a gravelly voice.

"Not long," replied a second voice. This voice, however, sound young and powerful. "If they go straight through the woods to the west of this village, they'll find the path that leads there. That journey takes no time at all."

"Why, again, are they going back to the Bronze City? Why not just follow us to the field?"

"I have greater plans," said the powerful voice. By now the owners of the voices had reached the gates of the ranch. Although they couldn't make out any details, the heroes could see that they were both very tall, and one was wearing some kind of cloak. The other carried a massive sword and a large square shield.

"Master," said the gravelly voice, "why do you keep these things secret from me?"

"Some things are better left secret," said the other. Suddenly the two figures stopped short. "Wait…who are they?"

"Shit," Cailin hissed. "We've been seen."

They turned to bolt, but they were too late. Somehow the figure with the sword and shield had moved from where he stood to directly behind them in a matter of seconds. Now they could clearly see that he was a towering skeleton.

"Children, Master," he shouted, "but one is armed. What shall I do with them?"

"Lock them up with the other prisoner, and be hasty. There's no time to lose."

"Yes, Master," replied the skeleton obediently. He reached toward Cailin, but let out a howl of surprise as Eoghan cleaved his forearm in half.

"Damn you, you piece of filth!" he cried, and struck Eoghan across the face with his other bony hand. "Do you realize who I am? I am the mighty King of Ikana!"

"If you're so mighty, why are you calling him 'Master'?" Cailin retorted.

"Mind your own business," snapped the King of Ikana, "and hold your tongue. You, boy, will regret that strike against me. I can have you all dead in a minute. Now get yourselves up that hill."

"Let's just do what he says," said Siobhán in a very uncharacteristic small voice. "Just this once, listen to me."

"You are wise," said Ikana. "Now let's go, come on. Hurry up."

Begrudgingly but obediently the group allowed Ikana to lead them up the hill to the stable. Once they were inside, he locked the door.

"This door is guarded," he said, "so don't get any ideas of escaping. Elseways you'll have to face the wrath of master Zagros."

Ikana rejoined Zagros at the gate to the ranch. As they continued through the village, Zagros stopped at the ruined fabricant.

"Pity," he said in a bored voice, "I spent so long perfecting its design. Oh well, it isn't as if more can't be made. Besides, I have a better design in the works as we speak."

"Master," said Ikana, "this one has been destroyed. Clearly they are capable. How can you be sure they won't be able to take down more?"

"Oh ye of little faith," chided Zagros. "Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire. Mark my words, Igos, this world will burn."

A pound of myrrh to anyone who can tell me where Zagros's ending quote came from.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Eleven**

"Son of a bitch…" Eoghan said to himself.

"What?" Siobhán sneered.

"What do you think?" he retorted. "We're stuck in this barn and it's all on your account."

"Excuse me, but I think I saved your life back there!" she shouted back. "That thing was going to kill you."

"I think you were more concerned about yourself," he said more to himself than his sister.

"Either way, you two," Cailin interjected, "we're here now, so we need to focus on getting out."

"There is no getting out," said a man's voice from somewhere in the recesses of the barn. "Didn't you hear what he said? This place is on lockdown."

"Who's there?" called Eoghan. "Show yourself."

Upon finishing these words, a man stepped out of the shadows. He looked like he had the potential to be attractive, but fell far short of it. His dirty blond hair was tangled and matted, his face was covered in stubble, and he looked as if he hadn't eaten or bathed in weeks. His filthy shirt hung loosely off his shoulders, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked vaguely familiar.

"Colin?" Siobhán finally piped up. "Is that you?"

"I didn't expect to see a familiar face again," he said. "I'll be honest, you aren't really who I wanted to see here, but I'd say you'll be better company than most when the end comes."

"What are you talking about?" Cailin said. "We're getting out of here."

"I already told you," he argued, "there is no escaping. If we tried we'd be caught, and then we'd be dead before we hit the ground."

"I don't believe that," she replied. "Besides, it could be worse. I mean, at least they're feeding you, right?"

"Wrong," he said. "I've been surviving on rats. They don't want me to survive, or anyone else for that matter. I heard them talking after they'd thrown me in here. The skeleton said something about harvesting the dead."

"Harvesting the dead?" Eoghan puzzled. "What, like digging up the bodies?"

"I don't know for sure," Colin replied, "but I do know it isn't good, and the more dead they have, the better."

"Well," said Siobhán, "I know you don't believe it, but even I admit that these two are clever enough to get us out of here. Cailin is, at least."

"Thank you," Cailin said with a sideways glance at Siobhán. "So, what do you know about the guard on this barn?"

"I've never actually seen it," he said slowly, "but judging by the sounds I've heard coming from outside, it's another of those fabricants."

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to sneak by, then, right?" Siobhán pondered. "I mean, they aren't alive so how would they know?"

"Somehow they do," Eoghan cut in. "Remember when I was fighting that one in the village? When I started towards it, somehow it knew where to turn so it could roast me."

"You don't know any spell to help us out, do you, Siobhán?" Cailin suggested. "Pretty much everything in my arsenal of Hylian magic is defensive."

"Hmm…" She thought it over for a moment. "No, at least not anything that won't alert the guard. I will take a look outside, though. I'll use a scrying spell to view the outside from in here."

Siobhán shut her eyes and fell visibly into a deep trance. After a moment she returned to reality.

"I saw something interesting," she said. "The guard, as you said, Colin, is another fabricant. What intrigued me was that there was a squirrel that ran by, but the fabricant paid it no notice."

"What are you suggesting, then?" Eoghan asked interestedly.

"My thinking is that these things are only designed to pick up on humanoid presences…not that that really helps any of us." Her eyes fell to the floor in despair. "None of us are animals, so it'll still notice."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Cailin interjected. "I just had an idea. See, when I was adventuring with your dad, when the world was covered in Twilight, he and I were transformed into wolves while we were inside the Twilight. When the Master Sword removed the curse from us, the dark energy crystallized. Guess what I still have," she said with a wry smirk.

"You have your crystal?" Siobhán looked taken aback. "Mom told me about those. She was going to have them both destroyed."

"Yeah, well," Cailin grinned wickedly, "I nicked mine from her before she left for the Twilight Realm. So, if I turn into a wolf, Eoghan can shadowjump the rest of you into my shadow. Then all I have to do is find a place where I can dig out, and then he can shadowjump out and take it to that machine."

"Sounds good to me," Eoghan said eagerly. "Let's do it."

"What do you think?" Cailin posed to Siobhán.

"Might as well," she resigned. "It isn't as if we have any better option."

"Colin," Cailin said, "we'll be back for you as soon as we get the chance. I swear it."

"Don't worry about me," he replied. "Just as long as Luda is safe, it doesn't matter what happens to me."

"We'll be back," she reaffirmed. "Are we all ready?"

"Ready," the twins confirmed.

"Alright then, let's do it." In a flash, Cailin had transformed into a wolf. She was a stunning sight there in the barn, with her gleaming white coat seemingly giving off its own light. Once she had changed, Eoghan took his sister's hand and the two of them disappeared into Cailin's shadow. She then turned her attention to Colin.

_Help me look for a weak point_, she tried to convey to him. He got the message quick enough, and soon the two of them were feeling the base of the walls for any spot that was weak enough for her to dig under.

"Over here," he quietly called from near the back of the barn. She ran over to him to see where he was pointing to. "Right here, in the corner. It looks like you could dig out from here." She gave it a try hesitantly, but Colin was right. The dirt came away with no effort, and soon her coat was filthy with dirt as she dug vigorously. After a few moments she was successfully outside the barn. She gave herself a good shake, and then changed back into her normal form. Once she had returned to normal, the twins emerged from her shadow.

"Alright, where is that big bastard?" Eoghan said to himself as he drew his sword.

"I don't think you'll have to look much farther," Siobhán pointed out. "It's right here!" Sure enough, the fabricant guarding the barn was upon them with incredible speed for its size. Before they had time to react, they were swept aside with a stroke of its massive tail and sent slamming into the side of the barn. Eoghan was the first to recover, but it was no good. As soon as he began to charge, he was the victim of another tail sweep, which sent him flying in the opposite direction. The machine then turned its attention on the girls.

"I don't want to think this is it," said Cailin in a weak voice, "but I think this might be it."

"What do you mean?" Siobhán demanded.

"I can't use any magic," she said with horrible finality. "I'm pretty sure my elbow's broken; I can't move my arm at all."

"Oh gods…" Siobhán muttered in horrid realization of the gravity of the situation. The metal monstrosity lurched closer and closer towards them, and Eoghan was nowhere to be seen. Cailin was out of action, so that just left her. "Well, it's worth a shot."

The fabricant was finally upon them. It slowly raised its sword blades, and with wicked swiftness brought them down to cleave the girls in two…but they weren't there. The blades crashed into the ground with such momentum that the blades buried themselves halfway into the ground. It was then that Eoghan came charging towards the prone fabricant.

"Gotcha, bitch!" he shouted as he swung his gilded blade sideways, severing the fire tail from the body. Then he leaped upon the beast's back and stabbed downwards, tearing the fabricant's carapace apart. With a wicked hiss, the thing collapsed onto the ground.

"Eoghan!" shouted Siobhán from the barn door. "I did it!"

"Did what?" he said, wiping the hair out of his eyes.

"I shadowjumped!" She looked absolutely ecstatic. "That thing was about to do us in, so I just got ahold of Cal here and…well, I don't really know what I did, but a second later we were inside!"

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you figured it out," he said, looking pleased. Then his face took on a more serious character. "We've got bigger fish to fry, though, I'm afraid. I don't know if you heard what those two were saying earlier, but the one, Zagros, is harvesting the dead for some reason. That's the same name as what was on that note telling us about Mom and Dad. I bet if we go to that Bronze City he was talking about, we could find them."

"We don't even know how to get there, though," Siobhán insisted, but then recanted, "although it's a wonderful idea. How are we supposed to get somewhere that we don't know the way to?"

"I heard him," Cailin interjected. "He said there's a path directly west of the village through the woods. If we just follow that path we should be able to find the city easy enough."

"By gods, let's do it," said Eoghan enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Siobhán said in agreement, "let's go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can save Mom and Dad and the princess."

"What about the boy?" said Colin from somewhere behind them.

"What boy?" Siobhán demanded.

"I heard them before. They said something about a silver-haired boy they'd captured."

"Oh no," Cailin said, and as the words left her mouth all the color drained from her face in an instant. "Will."


	12. Chapter 12

**The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Twelve**

"Dear Gods, I had no idea she was that fast," Eoghan wheezed. He and his sister had spent twenty minutes chasing after Cailin, who had bolted down through the village after their encounter with the fabricant.

"I...know….right?" Siobhán panted. "Gotta give her credit though," she said through strained breaths, "she's running a sound pace."

After they had caught their breath, the twins continued on in their pursuit of the mage. Finally, as they rounded a curve in the path, they found her. Cailin lay collapsed on the forest floor, unmoving.

"Oh dear Nayru," Eoghan fretted under his breath. "This doesn't look good."

"Is she…dead?" Siobhán hesitated before letting the words leave her lips.

"I don't think so…" Eoghan said as he made his way over to her apparently lifeless body. He examined her closely without being too invasive. Finally he spoke. "She's alive."

"Thank the gods…" Siobhán whispered to herself.

"Do my ears deceive me?" Eoghan remarked, throwing his sister a sideways glance. "Is that actually concern for a Hylian I hear coming from you?"

"What?" Siobhán was caught off guard. "N-no, no, of course not." She quickly regained her composure. "What I mean is that without her we would stand much less of a chance of reaching our goal."

"I think you were worried," Eoghan chided, unable to contain himself. "Ladies and gentlemen, mark today on your calendars! Siobhán has sympathy for a Light-Dweller!"

"I do not!" Siobhán retorted. Then, to their surprise and relief, there came a tiny voice.

"….bullshit."

They turned in disbelief to see the mage attempting to stand, and unfortunately failing.

"Don't try to move," Eoghan said. "You'll only spend more energy. Now tell us, what happened."

"I wasn't attacked or anything, if that's what you mean," Cailin said in self-defense. "I was just running and running until my vision started to go, and then I just…I don't remember falling but I guess I did because here I am."

"Dehydration, sounds like," Siobhán muttered to herself. "Eoghan, have you got any red potion?"

"I'm not sure…" he said, and began to rummage through his possessions. "No, I don't. Dammit."

"Well," said a very irritated Siobhán, "I guess we're stuck here until Cailin gets to feeling able."

"Why were you in such a hurry, anyhow?" Eoghan posed to her. "That guy said something about a boy, and then you took off like a bat out of Hell."

Cailin again attempted to get up off the ground, and this time was a bit more successful, allowing herself to settle into a sitting position.

"That boy they've got is my brother," she said finally. "He's pretty much the only family I've got left. I can't let anything happen to him."

"Don't worry," Eoghan said reassuringly. "We…_I_ won't let anything happen to him."

"Nor will I," Siobhán said defiantly. "You Light-Worlders aren't all bad….Most of you are," she added, "but not all."

"So no worries," Eoghan reassured. "I just wish I had some red potion. I don't mind waiting around with you but I'm just thinking, the longer we wait, the less time we have to prevent whatever it is that Zagros is planning."

"Permission to enter, Master," came the king of Ikana's gravelly voice from across the room.

"Permission grante, Igos," Zagros confirmed, not taking his eyes off of his workbench. "In fact, I was planning on summoning you later. I have something I need to discuss with you."

"Master," Igos said, bowing low, "I wanted to ask you again about the fate of my kingdom." He strode over to Zagros's bench with more grace than any skeleton should. "You promise my kingdom renewed life, and still you have not granted me this."

"Funny you should bring it up," said Zagros, taking of his goggles. "You see this?"

"Yes," Igos said warily. "It appears as a human head."

"That was the idea," Zagros confirmed. "You remember, of course, how I said I had an idea for a better fabricant? Well, rather than insectoid, I believe humanoid is a much better design."

"Is that so?" Igos' tone had become even more suspicious. "Why is that, I wonder…"

"Well," Zagros went on, "what are the most intelligent creatures to walk the earth? The humanoid races, of course. Humans, Hylians, Gerudo, Twili…the Ikana and Sheikah, at one time, I'm sure," he added after noticing Ikana's reproachful look. "My thinking is, what is Man's only real predator? The answer is simple: another man. However, my automata are stronger than men, and more durable."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Simple: it has everything to do with what you asked me." Zagros strode across the room to his massive magic generator. "You see," he said, placing a hand on the machine, "I thought these magic generators would be enough to fulfill my plans, and they were to a point. But plans have changed, you see…" He then pulled a lever, and a set of doors opened behind him to the right. "Come in here," he beckoned. Ikana followed him into the room and was astonished by what he saw there. Along the walls were rows and rows of mechanical men, each one identical to the last.

"This is my new model," Zagros said, clearly proud of his work. "You see, this is where all those souls are going. These babies need more power than what those generators can put out, and what is the most powerful obtainable substance? Souls! All of those dead in Hyrule, and all of your old subjects will soon be the power supply for my fabricant army."

"You bastard!" Ikana roared furiously. "You make me sick! If you think I'll continue working with you, you are a fool."

"Perhaps, but it doesn't matter. You see," Zagros said, and as he did, a massive mechanical hand thrust itself through Ikana's ribcage. The owner systemically proceeded to dismember the former king of Ikana and pulverize his bones to dust. "You've been replaced," Zagros finished. He then proceeded to scoop up the bone dust left from his former lackey, and carried them over to a large tank. After turning several knobs and pulling a lever, the tank began to fill with a transparent green fluid. One the tank was full, Zagros picked up a hose that was attached to the top of the tank and inserted the other end into the back of the automaton that had just destroyed Ikana. He pulled another lever, and the green fluid began to pump into the machine.

"You want new life?" Zagros said as he watched the automaton fill with Ikana's remains. "Enjoy it in a machine."


	13. Chapter 13

**The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Thirteen**

"This trail goes on forever," Siobhán complained as they continued on their way towards the Bronze City. "At this rate we'll never make it in time."

"We don't know that," Eoghan reassured. "We don't actually know what Zagros is doing, so we might have all kinds of time."

"In fact," she went on, acting as though she hadn't even heard him, "this may all be for nothing. As far as we know, he may have already killed all of his captives. Then we'd all be sunk; Hyrule would have no monarch, and…dear Gods, you'd be King of Twilight…"

"Oh, as if it would be any better have _you_ as Twilight Princess –"

"Stop it, you two!" Cailin finally interjected. "I get so sick of hearing you two bitch all the time."

"She started it…" Eoghan muttered under his breath.

They continued on in silence, no one daring to risk another episode like that again. Finally they came upon a clearing. At one end was an opening that led into darkness.

"That's got to be it," Cailin said. "It's just like the stories of when the Hero of Time ventured to Termina."

"What are you talking about?" Siobhán insisted.

"You've heard the stories of the Hero of Time, surely," Cailin asserted.

"Vaguely," said Eoghan. "Supposedly Dad is a descendent of his."

"That's right," she affirmed. "He is a descendent of the Hero of Time. That's why he bears the Triforce of Courage. A hundred and fifteen years ago, there was another hero whose name was also Link. He came from the forest, but he was Hylian born rather than Kokiri. He was called by the Goddesses to battle the forces of evil and save Hyrule from Ganondorf."

"Ganondorf?" Eoghan interjected. "That's the guy that tried to take over fifteen years ago."

"That's right," Cailin affirmed again. "That was the same Ganondorf that fought against the Hero of Time."

"There's no way," Siobhán insisted. "That would make him over a hundred years old. No one lives that long."

"You'd be surprised," Cailin retorted dryly. "At any rate, Ganondorf was also chosen by the Goddess. He bore the Triforce of Power, and because of that, he had nearly deific powers. One of those was his seeming immortality. Anyhow, after the Hero of Time defeated Ganondorf and sealed him away in the void, he returned to his childhood so that he could relive his lost years." She stopped, seeing the utterly lost looks on the twins' faces. "Yes, it's very convoluted, but it's true. So, because he retained his memory of all that had happened during his adulthood, he was able to warn the King before Ganondorf got a good foothold. That's when the sages sealed him in the Twilight Realm. I know you all know that story. Anyhow, after that was over, Link still wanted adventure in his life. Because of that, he undertook a personal journey to 'try to find an old friend', as the stories say. He journeyed through the lost woods, but was beset by a skull kid who stole his horse. He gave chase through the forest and eventually came upon a clearing just like this one with a tunnel just like that one. When he went through it, he came out in a world parallel to this one, called Termina."

"So let me get this straight," Eoghan said, pressing his fingers to his temples. "You're suggesting that Zagros has taken Zelda and our parents to a parallel world where he's planning to do Gods-know-what to them, and the only way we can stop him is to go through that tunnel."

Cailin waited for a moment. "Yep," she said.

"Alright, sounds pretty straightforward," Eoghan decided. "Let's get to it."

"Eoghan," Siobhán interjected, "you don't have any idea what's on the other side of that tunnel. Are you out of your mind?"

"Could be," he said. "It's a good thing, too, otherwise this whole thing probably would never work."

"You're incredible…" she said under her breath.

"Actually," Eoghan said suddenly, "Cal, I had an idea. If you turned into a wolf, do you think you could track their scents?"

"Yeah…" she said, dumbfounded. "Yeah, I guess I could. I don't know why that never occurred to me." In an instant, a great white wolf was standing before them. With her nose to the ground, she meticulously studied the area until she found something recognizable. Finally her ears stood on end and she began to wag her tail furiously.

"I think she's found something," Eoghan said, giving his sister a determined look. "Alright, lead the way."

As soon as he said it, she was off. They followed her into the darkness, not knowing what lay before them.

"Excellent work, Igos," Zagros said, addressing the automaton that he had just filled with his former lackey. "Very nicely done. I hope you don't mind me calling you Igos." The automaton gave no response. "I didn't think you would."

Zagros then turned his attention to his mechanical army.

"Let's get some souls into you," he drawled.

One by one, the automata were placed onto a conveyor belt. Zagros pulled a lever near the end of the belt, and it began to move, ushering the mechanical army along into a large machine. After a moment, they were released out the other side one by one, where they autonomously stepped off.

"Excellent," Zagros said to himself. "Everything is going according to plan. Now I just need to get them into Hyrule and the Twilight Realm." He then turned his attention back to Ikana's replacement.

"Igos, I need you to go and fetch the boy."

"The one with the silver hair, master?" The automaton spoke with a voice that sounded like gears grinding together.

"That's the one," he affirmed. Without another word, Igos left the room with its awkward jerky gait.

"I've no idea if this will even work, but what do I have to lose?" Zagros said to himself. After a few moments, Igos returned carrying a pale Hylian boy with silver hair. He was unconscious, but his face still carried a troubled look.

"Hook him up to the machine," Zagros ordered, "and then bring me the reactor harness. There's no time to lose."


	14. Chapter 14

**The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Fourteen**

"Man, you wanna talk about pitfalls, this is ridiculous," said Eoghan as they exited the tunnel. The tunnel they had just passed through opened up into a cavernous wooded area containing scattered platforms, but the distance between them was great and they couldn't see a bottom anywhere.

"So what's your plan now?" Siobhán scoffed. Although it was counterproductive for everyone, she found the seeming impassibility of this area to be a small victory over her brother on her part.

"I dunno about you," he said, "but I plan to fall back into Cal's shadow and let her jump the gaps." He looked at the massive white wolf next to him. "If that's ok with you, of course," he added. She nodded in response.

"What choice do I have?" Siobhán conceded. The wind taken out of her sails once again, she resigned to follow suit with her brother. Together they allowed their forms to meld with the shadow cast by Cailin's wolf body. Cailin then set out to leap the gaps between platforms. One by one her paws met the wood's hardness beneath them, each giving her sure footing as she landed on them. Eventually she found a grassy outcropping with another wooded tunnel and an oddly formed tree. Once she stopped to rest, the twins came springing back out to the light.

"What's his problem?" Siobhán said condescendingly.

"Who?" Eoghan was confused. "What are you even talking about?"

"That tree," she clarified. "Just look at it. It's got such a depressed look about it, it makes me want to just give up."

"That," said Cailin who had just returned to her normal form, "is a deku…or rather I guess it's a tree that looks an awful lot like one."

"A deku?" Siobhán inquired with an unimpressed tone to her voice. "Care to elaborate?"

"The deku were a race of people, for lack of a better word, long ago in Hyrule's history. I say for a lack of a better word because they weren't people in the sense that we think of, two arms, two legs, a head on top, essentially Hylian-looking. They were more like intelligent shrubs when you get right down to it. For whatever reason that's just their facial structure, what you see on that tree. They're extinct now, obviously, but there's still record of them being around for a time after Ganondorf was sealed in the Twilight Realm by the sages."

"Sorry I even asked," Siobhán rolled her eyes. "Well, come on, then. We better keep going."

They continued onward through the darkness until eventually they could hear the sound of running water. When the source of the sound was finally in view, the trio found themselves inside some alien structure.

"What is this place?" Eoghan wondered aloud.

"We must be in Termina now," said Cailin. "The question is, how do we reach the surface."

"Maybe if we follow these ramps…" Siobhán suggested, her voice void of its usual contempt. They followed the ramps up, spiraling around a rotating vertical beam, until eventually the floor beneath them leveled out.

"Damn," Eoghan said to himself, "there's no way out." Where there had clearly once stood a doorway, there was a solid stone wall. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"Well," Cailin, suggested, "that beam was being controlled by water power, so maybe if we follow the stream we can find a way out."

Together they made their way back down the scaffolding to where they had entered and observed the waterwheel. After determining the direction of the stream, they followed it down the underground tunnel.

"I sure hope you two know what you're doing," Siobhán chided. "Let it be known that, should this go horribly wrong, it was _not_ me who made this decision."

"Oh come off it for once, would you?" Eoghan snapped. "If you haven't got anything good to say, don't bother speaking at all."

"Have it your way," she shot back. "Maybe when you're in trouble and you need my help I'll just teleport away."

"You don't know how to teleport," he rebutted.

"Yes I do!" she snapped, barely controlling her temper. "I could do it right now if I wanted."

"No you can't," he said, casting aside her lividness. "You couldn't shadowjump until a few days ago, so there's no way you could teleport."

"I couldn't shadowjump because I had no reason to try. _I_, unlike _you_, obey the rules. Besides, that's an ability. Teleportation is a spell."

"Why not go ahead and do it, then?" Eoghan chided. "Go on, prove it."

"No," she snapped. "I won't have any part of your foolishness. Besides, where would I go?"

"Whatever," Eoghan said. "You can't do it."

"Yes I can!"

"Oh for Goddesses' sake," Cailin interjected, "give it a rest!"

"He started it," Siobhán hissed under breath.

"Actually," Cailin said matter-of-factly, "I believe you did, and I'm not just saying that to be taking his side."

"Yeah, see?" Eoghan demanded. "She gets it, why can't you?"

"On the other hand," Cailin continued, "_you_, Eoghan, didn't have to keep after it like you did. You both are to blame. Now, let it _go!_"

Having been put in their places, the twins continued on in silence. All that could be heard was the splashing of the water with each step they took towards their goal. The tunnel was seemingly endless, going on and on with no end in sight. After many, many uncountable hours they finally could see a light far in the distance.

"It's about time," said a highly annoyed Siobhán.

"Yeah, no kidding," Eoghan agreed.

"Mark the calendars," Cailin said wearily, "the twins agree on something." They were all so tired that her attempt at humor was wasted on all of them. Eventually, though, they reached the end, and they were greeted by the pale light of early morning. Ahead of them to their right was a sandy beach, and next to that, a great ocean.

"Damn," Eoghan said after they'd all taken a moment to let the image sink in. "So this is Termina, huh? Not quite what I'd expected."

"What did you expect?" Siobhán demanded.

"I dunno," was Eoghan's defeated response. "I don't really much care right now either, to be honest. I just want to sleep."

"Two agreements in one day," Siobhán said to herself, "this must be some kind of record."

"There's a house over there," Cailin pointed out. "We can head over there and see if anyone's home. If there is, we can ask to stay there, and if there's not then we won't ask."

"I must be delirious from exhaustion," said Siobhán, "because that sounds like a great idea to me."

They made their way to the house and Eoghan, taking the role of leader, knocked on the door. They waited a moment, and after not having received an answer, took the liberty of letting themselves in. Once inside, they all immediately collapsed onto the floor, too exhausted to go even one more step.

"What's all that bangin' around in there, eh?" came a voice from somewhere beyond them.

"Aw shit, someone's here," Eoghan gasped under his breath.

"Too late now," Cailin replied. "What happens now just happens." Just then they heard a door somewhere in the back of the house open.

"Oy!" shouted the voice of a man, which was now accompanied by footsteps. "I said what's all that – well, now, what's this, then?" He said upon seeing the trio in the floor. "Who said you lot could come in here?"

"No one," Eoghan panted as he tried to get to his feet. "We knocked and no one answered, so we thought the place was abandoned"

"Well, that makes sense that no one answered, I'd say," said the man. "I was out the back, em…takin' care of some business, shall we say. So who are you all, then, and how'd you get in here?"

Once Eoghan had, after much effort, gotten to his feet, he responded. "My name is Eoghan son of Link, King of Twilight. This is my twin sister Siobhán daughter of Midna, Queen of Twilight, and our colleague Cailin, Daughter of the Wind."

Now that he was standing, Eoghan could take in the appearance of this new person. He was a wiry man, a bit taller than Eoghan but not by much, with darkly tanned skin. He seemed to be missing several teeth, and the lower half of his face was hidden beneath a great, scraggly beard. His arms were decorated with swirling tattoos.

"Well, that's all well an' good, Eoghan son of Link an' all that," he said, "but that still doesn't tell me how you got into me house."

"Your door was unlocked," Eoghan said, "so I opened it, and then we all collapsed onto the floor."

"Well what was you all doin' down there?"

"It was not our intent," Eoghan replied. "Exhaustion forced us there. We've been travelling hard for several days."

"Sounds important," said the tattooed man. "Well, if you can make it up, have a seat anywhere you like an' I'll be back in a minute with summin' for ye's." He turned and left the room for another part of the house.

"I'm not sure if we should trust him," Siobhán said warily once he was out of earshot. "Something doesn't seem right about him."

"You mean other than the fact that he's missing teeth?" Cailin jabbed. "He seems alright enough, but I agree with you somewhat. We should stay alert in case he tries to pull one over on us." They each settled themselves on the floor in as comfortable a position as they each could find. Just then the tattooed man returned carrying mugs of something brown.

"Jest a nice porter," he said, seeing the wary looks on their faces. "I know you lot are jest young'uns, but you lot look like you could use a nice pick-me-up."

"You can say that again," Eoghan said and he took his mug from the man.

"So what," the man began as he settled into a wicker chair, "could be so blamed important that you lot come all the way to my house without a break, eh?"

"Well," Cailin began, "we didn't really intend on coming here."

"Well of course not," he interjected. "No one comes to visit poor old Phil anymore. Not even the Zoras come to spend a while like they used to. Can't blame them though, I'd say. Times is hard nowadays."

"What do you mean, 'times is hard'?" Siobhán asked.

"Ever since Zagros took over –"

"Wait," Cailin interjected, "did you say 'Zagros'?"

"Aye," Phil replied. "Oh, I remember the days before he came to Termina. A good life a fisherman could have in those days. There was money to be made, women to be had, an' plenty of time to enjoy life. But then one day a stranger came to Termina an' turned the whole world topsy-turvy. Aye, gone are the days when a man could tame the seas by the sweat of his brow an' that alone. Now it's all politics, an' damned they'll be if those Gerudo pirates don't keep everyone but 'emselves off the seas. Times is hard, nowadays. Times is hard."

"That's all very unfortunate," Eoghan said, "but what can you tell us about Zagros?"

"Oh, don't know too much about him personally," replied Phil. "Never comes out anymore. Used to be that he'd come out an' talk to people, seemed like a good man then. There was summin' about him, I remember. Not sure, but it made you want to listen to what he had to say. That an' he seemed genuinely interested in how things worked here. But then one day summin' happened, an' I couldn't tell you what, but before you knew it, Clock Town was torn down and they were buildin' a great big castle where the city used to be."

"A castle, you say?" Cailin said, and sat up straight. "That must be where he's taken them."

"Taken who?"

"Our parents," Eoghan replied, "and Princess Zelda of Hyrule."

"Couldn't tell you nothin' about any of that," Phil said. "All I know is that things has gone south ever since Zagros made himself King. Aye, times is hard, nowadays."

"We've heard," Siobhán said dryly. "I'd say you're right, though," she said to her companions. "If he's got them held anywhere, I'd say it's that castle."

"Alright," said Phil. "That's enough talk of castles an' Zagros an' all that. You lot need to rest. Hurry along an' finish your porter, an' you can have me bed to sleep in. I'll be out all day anyhow, so it won't bother me any.

They finished their drinks in silence and then allowed Phil the fisherman to show them to his bedroom.

"Thank you for letting us stay here," said Eoghan. "You've been more than gracious to us."

"Ah, well," Phil stammered, "it's the least I can do. Besides, it's not every day an old fisherman gets company anymore." He left the room and went back to the sitting room. After about an hour had passed, he went back to check on the trio. There they were, all sound asleep in his bed. Eoghan, he noticed, had his arm around Cailin.

"How sweet," Phil said to himself. "Oh, to be young again." He paused for a moment, shut his eyes, and then opened them again. "Oh Gods, or Goddess, or whoever's out there, an' young'uns, please…" he paused when he felt a catch in his throat. Finally he finished his thought with a croak. "Forgive me for this."


	15. Chapter 15

**The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Fifteen**

"Son of a bitch!" Siobhán shrieked.

"What," Eoghan grumbled as he was abruptly awakened from his sleep.

"That old, greasy bastard sold us out!"

It was clear what she meant once his eyes finally focused. Instead of the cozy house they had fallen asleep in, he now saw a cold, black stone cell around him.

"Damn," he said to himself. "Well, we've got to find a way out of here."

"How do you plan to do that?" Siobhán chided. "These walls are perfectly smooth and there's no door that I can find."

"Would you all keep it down?" came Cailin's tiny voice from where they had just been sleeping. "I'm seriously hung over."

"Well, hangover or not, get up," Siobhán ordered.

"Oh dear Gods," Cailin said as she stood up and rubbed her eyes. "Alright, so now what's going on?"

"Basically what it is, is that that booze-monkey played us like fools," Eoghan said.

"Great," she nodded. "So how do we get out of here?"

"We haven't quite figured that out yet."

"Well, there's bound to be some way," she asserted.

They searched the cell, looking for something they had perhaps overlooked in their initial survey of their surroundings. They felt every reachable surface around, but sure enough, there were no grooves that might suggest a door, or any other type of imperfection for that matter. All that was there was the three of them and the lamp hanging above their heads that cast a dim but sufficient light.

"I just had a thought," Cailin said. "If we're supposed to be prisoners, they'll have to feed us at some point. I mean, if they didn't want us alive for some reason, wouldn't that fisherman have just killed us and been done with it?"

"She has a point," Eoghan affirmed.

"Alright," Siobhán pondered, "so we wait for someone to bring us food, and then what?"

"I guess…" Eoghan thought, "I guess we snatch the person when they come in and then force whoever it is to tell what's going on and how to get out of here."

"Oh yeah," Siobhán said with a look of haughty derision, "that's a great plan, that is."

"You know, Siobhán," Cailin said, "there's something I've noticed about you."

"Oh really," she fumed. "And what might that be?"

"You're terrible at improvising."

And so, they began to wait. And they waited. And waited. They continued to wait, not really knowing for sure what it was they were waiting _for_. Eventually, after a long while, something happened. A tall rectangular patch of the wall started to glow a deep rust color. After a moment, where there had been nothing before, there was now a rusty iron door, which slowly creaked open. In stepped a figure who they assumed must be a servant, as she had the most simply of sack cloth garments. She came carrying a tray with three wooden bowls on it. It wasn't until now that they noticed just how empty their insides were.

"I think we'd better hold off on the plan just yet," Eoghan hissed at the other two, attempting to remain unheard by the servant girl.

She entered the cell with a stiff, jerky gait, and stopped in front of them, bending to set the tray on the floor. Her hair fell in a tangled mess around her face, but she seemed to pay no attention. Then she straightened back up.

"I'll be back," she said in a dull monotone, "to collect the dishes once you've finished." She turned to head out the door, and once she was gone, the door was once again replaced by unblemished wall.

They couldn't tell what it was supposed to be in the bowls the servant girl had brought, but they didn't much care. They ate the tasteless, bland gruel without complaint, and then set the bowls back down on the tray and waited for her to return.

"Hey," Cailin piped up, "listen. I just thought of a cunning plan."

Soon enough, the rectangular patch that would become the door began to appear. Eoghan and Siobhán situated themselves on either side of it, making sure to stay pressed against the wall. Once the door had fully materialized, they readied themselves. The door opened, and sure enough, the same servant girl as before entered the cell. As soon as the door shut behind her, though, Eoghan pounced on the servant girl, while Siobhán simultaneously tackled her by the ankles. They all came crashing to the ground with a sound like that of a falling soldier.

"Now," Eoghan snarled as he straddled the girl, his hand around her throat, pinning her to the floor, "where are we and how do we get out?"

She gave no answer. Instead, she hissed a long steady expulsion of air from somewhere inside her. Her mouth fell open, and Eoghan was very surprised by what he saw.

"Hey, come look at this," he called to the others.

"What is it?" Siobhán said as she got to her feet.

"Look at her mouth," he answered.

"Whoa," Cailin said taken aback as she saw what Eoghan was pointing out, "that's freaky."

"What is it?" Siobhán insisted.

"Her tongue goes back a little way," Cailin said, "and then her mouth just…stops. It's just flat."

"So she's not –" Siobhán began.

"Alive?" Eoghan finished for her. "No, I don't think so. Nor do I think she's really dead either."

"Well, what do we do now?" Siobhán demanded.

"I guess we just go until we find something useful," Eoghan suggested. "I mean, I don't really know what else we can do."

"Listen to yourself," Siobhán chided. "You're suggesting that we go out into whatever this place is without any idea of where we're going or what we're after, and in case you've forgotten, _we don't have any gear_. They stripped us of everything but our clothes."

"It'll be around somewhere," Eoghan said nonchalantly. "We just have to find it is all."

"You're incredible," Siobhán sighed.

"Well," Cailin said with vigor, trying to motivate her comrades, "let's get a move-on, shall we?"

Together they exited the door onto a dimly lit landing with a stone staircase spiraling upwards out of sight. Eoghan leading the way, they set forth into parts unknown.

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_A/N: Just out of curiosity, who can tell me where I got the idea for the servant girl?_


	16. Chapter 16

Alright, so I've had some time and I was able to get another chapter done. Not much to say, just R&R and enjoy.

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****The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Sixteen**

"Alright," Eoghan announced once they had reached the top of the stairs, "the first thing we need to do is find our gear."

"We'll have to be sneaky," Cailin added. "Without any weapons we're prime targets, and magic can only do so much."

"You gotta give Zagros credit," Siobhán said absently, "he covers his bases."

"Which is why we have to be on our toes," Eoghan said. "There's no telling what's waiting for us in this place, so we've got to be ready to dance with anything."

And so the trio set out through what they could only assume was Zagros' fortress. The hallway they were in now was dimly lit with torches secured in brackets to the iron walls. Up ahead somewhere they could hear footsteps.

"Quick," Cailin hissed, "we've got to hide or else we'll be seen and then we're toast!"

"There is nowhere to hide!" Siobhán hissed back. "_Nocwwm_!"

"What was that?" Cailin demanded in barely more than a whisper.

"That was me saving our asses," Siobhán retorted. "I just cast a spell that will make us appear like shadows. Now get down on the floor and keep your trap shut!"

They did so, and sure enough, around a corner came a squat, porcine figure carrying a long knife.

"Hgn?" it grunted as it cast a look in their direction. It turned its head from side to side, looking around stupidly but finding nothing. Finally it shrugged and kept moving. Then Siobhán began to follow.

"What are you doing?" Eoghan hissed at her from the shadows in which he hid.

"Making sure that pig doesn't ruin everything," she hissed back. Silently she crept up on the pig-man and then, before anyone knew what had happened, she was standing over its prone body. She then slipped the knife from its hand and slit its flabby throat. Her face held a look of mingled disgust and satisfaction as the thing's blood pooled around its head.

"What the hell was that?" Eoghan demanded. "You just killed that thing in cold blood. I realize it's a guard for this place, but still."

"Eoghan," she said, "you know as well as I do that one wrong move and that thing would have dozens more on us in no time. I was just making sure that didn't happen."

"Well, either way," Cailin interjected before things got out of hand, "we've still got to find our gear, so let's just get a move on."

They continued down the hallway, turning the corner that the pig-man had just come down, until they came to a fork in the path. To their left was another corridor, and directly ahead a short distance away was a door.

"Here, let's try this door," Cailin suggested.

"Good idea," Eoghan agreed. They approached the door, but as he reached for the handle, his sister seized his wrist.

"Are you even thinking?" she demanded. "What do you think will happen when you open that door?"

"I'll go in?" he replied, not sure where she was going with this.

"No," she corrected, "you'll be beset by who or whatever is in there, which means in turn the rest of us will, and in case you've forgotten, the only weapon we have is this piss-poor excuse for a knife!"

"Ok," he argued, "what do you suggest then?"

"We find an alternate way in," she said definitively. "There's got to be something…there!" She had pinpointed her target, and pointed out to the other two an empty space high up on the wall above the door.

"How do you expect to get up there?" Eoghan insisted. "That's got to be at least fifteen feet in the air, probably more."

"It won't be easy," Siobhán said, "but I can do it. See those beams up there?" She gestured to the steel support beams high up over their heads. "If I can get up there, I can get in that room."

"What about the rest of us?" Cailin insisted. "You're just going to do this all by yourself?"

"Well, not entirely," she said. "I have a plan, but first I need you to create a force field that I can stand on."

"What?" Cailin looked incredulous.

"Look, just trust me for once," Siobhán insisted. "Right about there," she gestured to an area above just about eye level, "I need you to create a force field."

"Alright," Cailin agreed, "but whatever you've got in mind, make it quick. I can't do this forever."

"No need," Siobhán said with authority. She stood back and allowed Cailin to work her magic. A moment later, there was the outline of a platform suspended in the air.

"Perfect," Siobhán said. Then she did something the others weren't expecting at all. She took a running start at the wall that held the door, ran a few steps up it, and then pushed off into the air. She grabbed hold of the force platform that Cailin was holding in place and from there jumped up to the support beams. She pulled herself up, and then carefully made her way over to the open space high on the wall.

"How in the blue hell did you do that?" Eoghan said aloud. "I guess I should say, when did you learn to do that?"

"Oh, I've always been able," she replied. "I just would rather be doing something else."

"Well, that's great," Cailin said, "but how are we getting up there."

"Can you climb?" Siobhán asked.

"Yes," they both answered.

"Then watch," she said. With that, she used her Twili shadow magic to tear the torch brackets from their places and affixed them to the wall beneath where she sat perched in such a way that they formed hand and footholds, extinguishing the torches in the process.

"Now you can climb up," she said with satisfaction.

"Wow," Eoghan said. "I think you might just be a genius."

"Well," she said to herself, "that makes one of us." She waited until they had all reached her perch. "Now look," she said with much more authority than she had the whole time they had been on their journey, "you see down there?" They looked down into what appeared to be a barracks of sorts. All around there were cots, some empty and some with sleeping pig-men. "We have to be careful not to wake them up. Otherwise we're dead meat. I think our gear is in one of those chests, but I don't know for sure. What I do know is that we've got to get down there and go through all of those without being detected."

"What's your plan, then," Eoghan asked.

"I need you to lower me down so that I land on that empty cot there," she pointed at one that was fairly close to the door they had just circumvented. "It won't be easy, especially since you'll have to navigate these rafters and maintain perfect balance."

"I can do it," he said. "You can count on me."

"I know," Siobhán said. For a moment it was as if they had come to some mutual understanding. That moment was over as soon as it had begun, because they couldn't afford to lose focus. Slowly and carefully they crept along the beams until they were directly over the cot.

"Alright," Siobhán said, "what I need you to do is lower yourself down into a hanging position. Once you're there you'll really have to focus because I'm going to climb down you so that I hit with the least amount of force possible. I don't want these pigs to wake up."

"I understand," he said with a nod. Slowly he lowered himself down so that he was hanging off the beam. He steeled himself for the added weight that Siobhán would create, but it was such a precarious position that he still nearly lost his grip as she lowered herself down his body. It was a relief when she finally released hold of his ankles and he was able to pull himself back up.

Once she had reached the floor, Siobhán moved more silently than she ever thought she could. She made for the nearest chest, which just happened to be right next to the head of a sleeping pig-man. She made to open it, but the creaking hinge stirred the pig. It grunted, but didn't fully wake. _Time for some preemptive action_, Siobhán thought to herself. She stalked around to the other side of the cot, drew the knife, and silently opened the pig-man's throat. She followed suit with the others, being careful not to make a sound. Miraculously, not one became aware of her presence, and soon all the pig-men were dead, their throats opened, blood flowing freely. She then leisurely began to open all the chests.

"You two can come down now," she called up to Eoghan and Cailin, who were watching her with pained faces. Disgusted, but eager to leave, they lowered themselves down, albeit with much less ease and grace as Siobhán had. Soon, all the chests were open, and all their gear had been recovered.

"Alright," Siobhán said. "At least all that trouble wasn't for nothing. I wonder if maybe one of these guys…" she let her voice trail off and she searched. "Here we go," she said triumphantly as she found a map of the fortress among one of the pig-men's possession. "These might be helpful too," she said as she lifted a ring of keys from another. "Well, let's keep moving now that you've got a sword and shield again and we've got our things."

They exited the room, now much more prepared for the challenges they faced, and knowing Zagros, there would be many more challenges to come before they faced their final adversary.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey everyone. I realize that this chapter is very short, but it's really just meant as a transition chapter. You'll understand what I mean when you read it. Read, review if you want but it won't hurt my feelings if you don't for this one.

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****The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Seventeen**

"At last," Eoghan said triumphantly, hoisting the Gilded Sword into the air melodramatically, "my arm is complete again!"

"You act as if you live by the sword," Siobhán scoffed, although not with her usual piss-and-vinegar.

"I practically do nowadays," he said. "Well then, now that we've got our things back, let's take a look at that map." He sheathed his sword and slung his shield over his back, and then huddled together with the other two on an empty cot to examine the map.

"Well, it looks like we're in a basement level," Cailin stated as they pored over the map. "If I had to guess, I'd say that Zagros is like his dad and will want to hole up somewhere near the top."

"Could be," Eoghan said, "but then again it's hard to say. I mean, Dad said that when he fought Ganondorf the last time he brought the fight to Dad out in the courtyard of Hyrule Castle."

"That's true," Cailin admitted. "I wasn't there, but I do remember him saying that."

"We should probably search everywhere then, just to be sure," Siobhán suggested.

"I find myself agreeing with you more and more often," Eoghan said.

"Alright," Cailin said, pointing her finger at the map, "there's just a few other rooms on this level, and that looks like a staircase there, so let's check those rooms and then head on up."

They proceeded down the branch of hallway that they hadn't taken before. Ahead of them, the corridor turned to the right, and on either side of them was a door. They decided first to try the door to their right, to the east according to the map. Once inside, they met the unimpressive sight of numerous food storage containers, so they left and tried the door across the hall.

"Now this is more like it," Eoghan said with glee. This room was also a storage room, but instead of provisions, it held arms and armor. "Gods, look at all this stuff! They must have either raided the palace or Dad was carrying this stuff around with him when they were captured. Check it out," he said enthusiastically, "it's one of Dad's clawshots! I'm totally taking this. And here's a metal shield…"

"You might want to take some armor that's around," Siobhán suggested. "That's what I'm doing, if I can find any that fits. There's bound to be some in this mess."

"Too bad armor interferes with magic," Cailin mused. "It would probably be useful. Oh well, I'll make it through. I always have before, anyhow."

"Alright, here we go," Eoghan said gleefully. He had stumbled upon an almost complete suit of steel armor. All that was missing was a helmet, pauldrons and cuisses, although the cuirass did have tassets attached. He proceeded to don the armor with help from Cailin when necessary. "This is great. Too bad all the helmets around here are broken. This stuff isn't in the best shape either, but it should be okay, I hope." Just then, something came rushing past his head, barely grazing his hair before plunging into the wall. He spun around to find Siobhán wearing several pieces of leather armor in addition to the dress she had on, holding a crossbow.

"That's right," Siobhán said with a smirk. "Your sister's a bitch!"

While the twins showed off their new finds, something else caught Cailin's eye. Buried among the refuse, however salvageable it might be, was something much more useful to her. There, in the pile of old weapons and armor pieces, was a headband set with a black orb that matched her Goddess pendant perfectly.

"I'll hang on to you," she said in a low voice, so that only the headband could hear. "You'll be useful, I can tell."

When they had all finished showing off their new arsenal, they returned to the main corridor. Just as the map had said, there was a staircase spiraling upwards to the right. Once at the top, they were met by what appeared to be a door, but it was no ordinary door. There was no handle, and no visible means of opening it. Its surface was unblemished onyx, but it appeared to scintillate color across its surface, just barely noticeable. The trio approached the door, unsure how to go about opening it.

"There's got to be a way to open it," Eoghan said aloud. He reached out to feel the surface, to find anything at all that might help them get past this obstacle, but then something happened. As soon as his hand touched the surface, the entire door flashed red and Eoghan was drawn into it.

"Eoghan!" the other two cried, unable to save him from being consumed by the door. Siobhán reached out to try and grab hold of his ankles, but she, too, was drawn into the door. As she passed through, it changed from red to yellow.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Cailin said to herself as, seeing no better option, she plunged herself into the door as well, which turned blue upon consumer her person.

* * *

When the three opened their eyes, an all too familiar voice rang out in each of their minds.


	18. Chapter 18

Two in one day...that hasn't happened in a while. So anyhow, here's chapter 18. R&R

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****The Legend of Midna****: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Eighteen**

Eoghan could feel himself falling, but there was nothing he could do to steady himself; it was too late. He could hear his sister calling after him, could feel her fingers curl around his ankle, but as soon as they had closed they were gone. All he could hear now was the air rushing past him. As soon as it had all begun, he found himself in a dark dungeon-like place.

_Hello, Eoghan_, rang an all too familiar voice in Eoghan's head.

"What the hell do you want?" Eoghan demanded aloud.

_I like you,_ Zagros' voice said in Eoghan's mind. _You're a go-getter. That's why I designed this little test for you. I want to see what you're made of. You've got a sword and a shield, and you're a pretty good fighter. I want to see how well you can use those skills when it comes down to life or death. Have fun…_

"What a bastard," Eoghan sighed. He could barely see anything, but what he could see was that he was alone here, wherever he was. "Well, let's see what he's got planned, then."

Eoghan set forth down a long, dimly lit corridor. The light that did come in to the corridor was red and fluctuating, which created a sickening sensation in conjunction with the shadows that crept through the passage. Every so often there would be a burst of red light, and Eoghan could plainly see long broad smears along the walls.

"I bet I know what that is," he said to himself.

He continued on down the corridor, his hand on the pommel of his sword ready to draw at any moment, when finally he came upon a portcullis. A crank mechanism was set into the wall just to his left.

"Thank gods," he said aloud. "Now maybe I can get this over with." He turned the crank and raised the portcullis enough that he could get through the opening.

He stepped through, and the corridor gave way to open air. The sight he was met with was sickening. He was standing at the edge of what appeared to be an arena of sorts, but the stone walls of the arena were broken and crumbling, the relic of some lost civilization. The sky overhead was blood red. The bloody sand of the arena floor was littered with corpses, some the victims of gruesome deaths. More than one body was impaled on enormous spikes. They brought to mind images of some demon waiting just beneath the arena floor, waiting to rise up and devour him, and those spikes were its horns. Finally, after taking a moment to absorb all that he could see, Eoghan steeled himself and stepped forward into the middle of the arena.

He drew his sword, knowing that some unknown adversary would come soon enough. Then, from his right, another portcullis opened and a band of five armored lizalfos charged at him. He steeled himself behind his shield, ready for the impending blow. The first of the gang leapt and brought its sword down hard onto Eoghan's shield. He deflected the blow and had just enough time to give the lizalfos a hard kick in the midsection before turning to block a strike from another of the beasts. The first lizalfos was still reeling from the kick he had given it, and so he took the opportunity to plunge the Gilded Sword into its heart. Seeing their leader downed, the other lizalfos began a relentless assault against Eoghan. After a long and hard battle, the last of the lizalfos fell dead at Eoghan's feet. However, Eoghan was not unharmed. He had taken a nasty stab to the inside of the thigh, where the protection of his tassets was nil. Before he'd really even had a chance to catch his breath, another portcullis on the opposite side of the arena opened.

_That was pretty good_, Zagros' voice echoed in Eoghan's mind. _Let's see how you do against this._ Out of this portcullis came a Darknut flanked by two Iron Knuckles.

"You've got to be kidding," Eoghan sighed exasperatedly. He heaved his sword up and readied himself for the assault.

This fight was not nearly as easy as his last, even though he had fewer opponents this time. Each time he tried to get near enough to strike the Darknut, he would be forced to retreat or else be cleaved in half by one of the Iron Knuckle's massive axes. After a few minutes of playing cat-and-mouse with the three armored behemoths, something caught Eoghan's eye. Up on an outcropping above the portcullis he had used to enter the arena was a tuft of leaves that could only belong to one kind of plant. It was just out of reach, unless…

"I've got to be out of mind," Eoghan said aloud. He then did something that most would consider clinically insane; he allowed an Iron Knuckle the opportunity to deliver a chop with its axe. At the last minute he dove out of the way, causing the axe blade to become stuck in the ground. Knowing that time was everything, he ran up the Iron Knuckle's arm and climbed across its broad shoulders. Before they had realized what had happened, he had run across the Darknut and the other Iron Knuckle's bodies, which put him high enough in the air to make it to his goal. Without thinking, he dove off of the Iron Knuckle, pushing off of its helmet with his foot. He barely made the jump, but he was able to grab hold of the outcropping and pulled himself up.

"Gotcha, bitches," he declared triumphantly. He gave the plant a great heave, and, with difficulty, pulled the bomb flower from where it was rooted. He pitched it at his opponents, and it exploded, causing pieces of armor to fall off of all three of them. He repeated the process each time another bomb returned to its flower, until the Iron Knuckles were reduced to scrap heaps and the Darknut was unarmored. It cast its massive sword aside and drew a smaller one from its hip sheath.

"Now you're mine!" Eoghan cried. He quickly drew Link's clawshot and launched it at the Darknut, knocking it off balance. As it reeled, he picked the Gilded Sword back up, leapt from his perch, and swung the blade. As his feet touched the ground, so did the Darknut's severed head.

_You're good, boy,_ Zagros said inside Eoghan's head, _but you've still got one more test to face_.

"Bring it on, bitch," Eoghan answered aloud. Just then, a final portcullis opened at the opposite end of the arena from where he stood. He readied himself for whatever it was that was coming for him. Finally he saw his final adversary; it appeared as a man, but its body was made of steel and bronze gears. In its clawed hands it carried a pole with two curved blades attached to either end.

The mechanical man rushed at Eoghan with much more speed than he thought should be possible for something as large as it was. Once it was upon him, it looked to be somewhere around seven feet tall, and it must have been immensely heavy considering it was made entirely out of metal. It brought one end of its pole weapon down in an arc with such speed that Eoghan barely had time to block it. He staggered backwards, having been thrown off balance by the force of the blow, but then was forced to the ground as the mechanical man brought the other end square into his back. Maintaining his presence of mind, Eoghan rolled between the machine's legs and jammed his sword through its pelvis. It faltered for a moment, but then its entire upper body whirled around to face him. It then swung its weapon upward, knocking him off his feet and tossing him through the air.

"Damn!" Eoghan said to himself. The machine then began to advance on him, walking backwards with as much fluidity as it did forwards.

"_There's got to be something_," Eoghan thought as the mechanical monster advanced. Then a thought occurred to him. The man's joints were all made of clockwork; gears controlled all its movement. "_I sure hope this works_," he thought. He set his sword aside and drew the clawshot once more. He aimed, and as the machine raised its weapon high, ready to finish him off, he fired the clawshot. The claws sunk into the machine's chest, and as it recoiled back to its default position, the chest plate covering the man's inner workings was torn off. Not wasting any time, Eoghan reached for something disposable. His fingers closed around a bone that was lying nearby, and with it in his grasp he forced himself off of the ground and jammed the bone into the machines exposed inner gears. It sputtered and whirred, jerked around for a moment, and then finally fell before him. Eoghan gathered his gear, spat on the machine's face, and then left the arena through the gate the machine had used.

"Now on to find the others," Eoghan said to himself. He made his way through another corridor, like the one he had gone through before, until finally he came to a door just like the one that had brought him here in the first place.

Without hesitation, Eoghan stepped forward.


	19. Chapter 19

Hey everyone, sorry it's been a while since I posted last. I've been more focused on trying to get everything together so I can graduate. Anyhow, here is chapter 19 of Clockwork Darkness. A word of advisement, I'm not sure if it will work since it isn't registering in my preview, but there is some use of the Hylian alphabet in the original document. You can download the font here .?n=fonts, and it is the Twilight Princess version. That way if it works, it will show up. It isn't necessary, but it looks good. So there you have it. So presenting ch. 19. R&R plz.

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The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Nineteen**

"Eoghan!" Siobhán shouted. She barely had a hold of his ankle, and she was holding on with all she had. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and his ankle slipped out of her grasp. She watched her brother vanish into nothing before her eyes as she fell into a wide, yellow oblivion. Her vision fell out of focus, and everything went black.

_Wake up, Siobhán_, said an all too familiar voice inside her head. _You've got work to do_. She got to her feet, and immediately pressed herself against the wall behind her. Before her was a seemingly endless expanse of wooden beams, intersecting at random places, and some higher and lower than others.

"What the hell is going on," she breathed.

_I'll tell you what's going on_, Zagros' voice answered. _You see, I like your attitude. The way you handled yourself after you escaped from your cell, it was brilliant. You have such tremendous skill, I thought I might put you through a little test. You see the beams before you. All you must do is make it to the other side. However, there is a catch. One wrong move_, he said, and at those words the area beneath the beams was lit by torches, and she could see massive spikes protruding from the floor far below, _and the consequences are clear. You have two options, Siobhán. Either make your way through to the end, or die where you stand. Make your choice, and for what it's worth, I have confidence that you will succeed_.

"Well, that's nice of him," Siobhán said to herself. Carefully, she extended her right foot out onto the beam in front of her. Careful to keep her balance, she made her way entirely out onto the beams, leaving safety behind. She was painfully aware of the spikes below her, waiting to impale her should they be given the chance.

Ten steps and she came to an intersection. She turned right, careful not to let her center of balance go off of the beams she was standing on, and continued on. Eventually she came to a point where she could walk no more, as the crossways beam reached from wall to the other. Her only option was to jump up to the crossways beam above her.

"I sure hope this works," she said to herself. She took a deep breath and jumped straight up. She was just tall enough to be able to curl her fingers over the beam. With an impressive display of strength, she pulled herself up onto the beam and continued her dangerous trek. She carefully made her way across the beams until her goal was in sight: perhaps not quite 30 yards away was an outcropping and a door. Maintaining her balance, Siobhán headed for the beam nearest the outcropping.

_I can make that jump easy_, she thought to herself as she made her way across. _I just have to_ – "Shit!" she exclaimed aloud. Just as she let her foot come down on the crossways beam in front of her, it gave out beneath her. Just barely was she able to keep her balance. "Well…I guess now I have to find another way." Luckily, hope was not lost. She had stepped to the right of the junction created by the two beams, but the left side was left intact.

"Hopefully this one won't give out on me like that did," she said aloud. She hesitated, and then stepped out to the remaining portion of the beam in front of her. It held, and she continued on her way, although the route she was now forced to take took her far out of her way. Eventually she reached her goal. With a mighty push off, she easily cleared the gap from where she perched to the outcropping which held her escape.

"Thank gods," she said to herself. "I'm ready to be done with this place." She turned the handle of the door and opened it. Then her stomach dropped out when she saw what was waiting for her.

_Oh no_, said Zagros' voice in her head. _You've still got a ways to go before you're finished_.

Before her was a massive expanse, the bottom of which was too far below to be seen. The ceiling, however, was visible, and from it hung a platform in front of her. On the wall nearby was a silver diamond shaped placard engraved with an eye.

"Ok," she said. "I see what this is. I remember Dad talking about these." She drew her crossbow and fired a bolt directly into the eye, which shut upon impact. Immediately, and with a thunderous jolt, another platform fell behind the first, suspended by a long chain. "So I guess I have to get across here. Alright, well, let's do it."

Siobhán took a running start and then hopped across to the first platform, and then again to the second. "Ok," she puzzled, "there has to be more of these eye switches, so where are they…" Finally she saw it, up on the ceiling. She fired another bolt, and once again a platform fell from the ceiling, this time a bit farther away than before. She cleared the gap, and then stopped again to find her next target. Once she found it and fired a bolt into its eye, another platform fell, but stopped sooner than the last ones had. Also, two massive slabs of stone came out from the walls and slammed together in the middle, creating one massive wall directly in her path.

"Well now what the hell am I supposed to do?" she puzzled to herself. After a moment of thought, it came to her. With as much of a running start as she could get, she leapt off of the platform where she stood and jumped directly into the wall in front of her. Once her foot touched the wall, she mustered all the strength she had and actually ran up two steps before pushing off from the wall back in the direction from which she had come. She stretched out her arms and just barely was able to grab hold of the edge of the platform that had just fallen a moment before. From there, she pulled herself up.

"Qac nwafa," she said to herself. "This is ridiculous." She continued on through the chamber, shooting eye switches and jumping from platform to platform, until eventually she came to another outcropping with a door.

"Alright," she said, clutching a stitch in her side, "now let's get out of here." She stepped through the door, and again all her hope was shattered.

_I'm afraid you're not done yet_, said Zagros._ You still have this left to get through before you're done. Don't worry though, after all you've been through so far, this should be easy_.

Siobhán made her way forward. She was in some type of cavern, from the looks of what she could see; the area was nearly in total darkness, lit only by a handful of torches. She treaded across the rough, uneven stone floor until she came to where the torches stood; they marked the perimeter of a significantly smoother area. Upon further inspection, she could see that the area inside the perimeter of the torches was comprised of massive stone tiles. She stepped out onto the first one, but then immediately drew her foot back; she barely dodged having her foot impaled by about ten huge spikes that darted up out of the floor and then a moment later withdrew back to where they came from.

"Well, that complicates things," Siobhán said aloud. She looked around for something that might help her, and then spied a chest nearby. She went over and opened it to find it empty save a rolled up scroll. She unrolled it and examined it, but was only even further puzzled. It read:

X X M A T F

K J M M O X

L R X M M R

M M M D M Q

M H M M M S

M F A B G L

"Huh…" she puzzled. "I wonder what that's supposed to mean. It's Hylian, but it doesn't look like it means anything." She sat and puzzled over the scroll until finally she understood.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed in triumph. "It got the path written on it!" Having finally understood the path she needed to take, she easily made her way across the tiles. Once on the other side, she headed toward the other end of the cavern, which was filled with yellow light.

_Well done,_ said Zagros in Siobhán's mind. _I knew you'd make it through, though._

"Well, thanks, I guess," Siobhán answered, not sure whether to be pleased with this reaction or not. Then, without another thought, she stepped into the light. There she found door just like the one that had brought her to the beginning of her trial. Without a second thought, Siobhán stepped through.


	20. Chapter 20

Alright everyone, I'm back. I know how you must be drooling for another long chapter, and here it is. So without further ado, here is Clockwork Darkness ch. 20. R&R plz.

**

* * *

The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Twenty**

Cailin felt a sensation of falling, saw a rush of blue color surround her, and, as soon as it began, felt her feet touch down softly onto stone.

_Hello, Cailin_, said an all-too familiar voice. _I've heard a lot about you. I understand you're a pretty capable mage. Daughter of the Winds, they call you, or so my father said before that little fiasco all those years ago. Well I tell you the truth, you'll need more than wind magic to make it out alive. Good luck._

"Oh that's great," Cailin said to herself. "He knows who I am. Hopefully all that about more than just wind magic is a bluff." She then paused to take in her surroundings. She found herself in the center of a large hexagonal room, each wall bearing a door. "Hmm…" she puzzled, "which one of these is the way out, I wonder…" She strode up to the door directly in front of her, turned the handle, and barely reacted fast enough to roll out of the way as the door fell towards her, hitting the stone floor with a cacophony of noise. "Ok, so it isn't that one."

She had to try two more doors before she got the right one. The next one she tried was to the left of the first door she had tried, and it sank into the wall upon having the handle turned. The one next to it exploded, throwing her to the floor.

"Damn!" she exclaimed as she hit the floor. "It's a miracle I'm not dead after that. This Zagros guy is nuts!" She got to her feet, and then tried a door on the wall opposite from where she started. Hesitantly she turned the handle, and much to her relief, it opened, revealing a long, narrow corridor.

"Thank the gods," she breathed in relief. She headed down the hallway until she came to the door at the other end. She went through it, and found herself in a slightly wider corridor. She took a step forward, and immediately jumped back. She must have triggered some switch or something, because the moment she tried to walk through, an endless array of arrows came hurtling out of the left wall into perfectly aligned slots on the right wall.

"That definitely complicates things," she said to herself. "Well, this is nothing some wind magic can't handle." She then focused her energy and generated a sort of bubble composed of roiling wind around her. Then she darted through the center of the corridor as fast as she could. As the arrows shot towards her, they hit the wall of wind surrounding her and fell to the floor. After a moment of sprinting, she reached the other side, leaving a mess of broken arrows in her wake.

"Ok, now to rest a minute," she breathed. After allowing herself to catch her breath, she continued onward. She stepped through the archway, and found herself outside in a sort of netherworld, oddly reminiscent of the Twilight Realm, but with a more malevolent ambiance. She allowed herself once more to take in her surroundings. She appeared to be on some kind of fortress. There were other structures like the one she was on, standing on individual islands suspended in the ether of this strange netherworld, each connected by stone bridges. Directly ahead of her was a bridge with what appeared to have once been an awning, but most of it was missing, possibly the victim of erosion, although what could have caused it she couldn't have guessed.

"I guess I need to get over there," she said to herself. She started across the bridge, her goal in her sight. Then something happened that threw her completely off guard. Before she could finish her next step, she was overcome with the sensation of falling, and then felt herself hit hard again stone. For a moment she laid prone. Finally she regained her composure, got to her feet, and continued breathing normally. Then she realized what had happened: before her, the path dropped off into nothingness. Above her, the path spanned to the next island, from which the fortress tower hung upside down. Truly, the entire realm had been turned on its end; she silently said a prayer to the goddesses that she had been fortunate enough to land on the remaining portion of what had once covered the bridge. Then the daunting task sunk in.

"How do I get across now…" she pondered absently. It seemed that she was trapped on this patch of stone. She had to get across somehow, but she had no idea how. Then finally the idea struck her.

"I've got it!" she cried in triumph. Holding her hands out, she focused her energy and created a force field out in the expanse. She jumped to it, now standing out over an endless abyss, a magical platform the only thing between her and infinity.

"Now I've just got to figure out how to go about this," she said aloud. Then a thought occurred to her. "I wonder if this will work," she puzzled. Then, focusing her energy, she used her wind magic to produce a gust of wind behind her. Luckily, her idea worked, and she found her force platform sailing forward thanks to the force of the gust. A few more bursts of speed from her wind magic, and Cailin found herself finally on the other side of the expanse.

"Ok," Cailin thought to herself, "now how do I get to that fortress. Everything is still upside down." Seeing no other option, she took a leap of faith towards the island holding the next fortress. Mid-jump, the world righted itself, and Cailin once again fell toward the ground and landed hard.

"Well, at least I made it," she groaned as she nursed her right elbow. She had landed directly on it, and it was now in excruciating pain. Determined to make it out of this place alive, she continued on into the next fortress.

Once inside, she was rather unimpressed by what she found. She was in another hexagonal room, in the center of which was a hole covered in thick spider webs. All around the room, the walls were decorated with the images of mountains, culminating in a scene depicting a powerful goron wielding a hammer against a fierce dragon. Knowing of no better option, and eager to find anything that could help her, Cailin began inspecting the walls. Finally something caught her eye; in the scene of the goron and the dragon, she could see that the dragon's eye was set with a bright red stone. She reached out to touch it, but was blinded by red light that shone from it when she attempted to touch it. When she could once again see, she saw that stone was gone from the engraving. Then a voice that seemed strangely familiar spoke inside her mind.

_Cailin, your ancestor did terrible things, but you have a clear mind and a just heart. We will aid you, and he can be redeemed through you. You have these powers already, but we will unlock your true potential for you, and then you will be capable of truly great things._ _Look at the headband you wear_. She removed it and saw that now, next to the central black jewel, there was a red one exactly like the one she had seen a moment ago in the dragon's eye. _These crystals will unlock your true potential in elemental magic. Although you did not know it, your potential in wind magic has already been unlocked; you are capable of more than you think. Now your potential for fire magic has also been unlocked. Fare onward, and fully redeem your ancestor._

"Huh…" she thought aloud. "That was weird. So, if what whoever that was says is true, I should be able to handle whatever Zagros has planned for me with no trouble at all." She then turned to the webs in the center of the floor and produced a jet of fire, reducing the webs to smithereens. "Nowhere to go now but down," she said confidently. Without a second though, she took a leap of faith down the hole to wherever it would take her.

Upon reaching the bottom, she found herself in a situation that logically should not have been possible. The first thing she noticed was the intense heat. Then she took in her surroundings. Where there should have been stone walls and floor of the fortress she was in, she found herself on an island of obsidian looking out over a sea of magma and fire. Around her were stone wall, but they were rough and unworked. Streams of magma flowed freely out of crevices in the walls, and fire fell from the rough cavern ceiling. On the other side she could see a normal door. All she had to do was reach the other side. The only problem was that the only solid surfaces in the cavern were the one on which she stood and the one that held the door.

"There's got to be a way across," she said to herself. Then she remembered what the voice had said. "That person said my potential was unlocked in fire magic. I wonder…" She focused her energy into fire magic, and produced a glowing red bubble of sorts around herself. She stepped out into the magma, and as she had hoped, she felt no pain. She continued on, wading through the lava until finally reaching the other side. With a quick thanks to the goddesses, she stepped through the door.

Once through, Cailin once again found herself outside. As she started across the bridge leading to the next fortress, she saw that a massive portion of the bridge was missing.

"Well that's great," she said. "I can't jump that. How am I supposed to get across?" Then something occurred to her. "He said my potential in wind magic had already been unlocked..." Hoping that her crazy idea was crazy enough to work, she focused her energy into wind magic. Once her energy was sufficient, she produced two jets of strong wind that lifted her off the ground. As she fought to maintain her concentration, she maneuvered the wind jets in such a way that she was able to cross the gap and land safely on the other side.

"I can't believe that worked," she breathed with excitement. "I'd better not do that too much, though. I'm already starting to feel the fatigue from using all this magic. Much more and I won't be worth a damn." Nevertheless, she continued onward in her journey to escape the netherworld and reunite with her comrades.

Inside the next fortress, she was met with a similar sight as the previous. The walls were lined with engravings featuring an ocean, and zoras, and finally what appeared to be a massive whale wearing a crown. Cailin noticed that the crown was set with a blue jewel similar to the red one in the previous fortress. She proceeded to extract it from its resting place. A blinding flash of blue light, and that crystal became part of Cailin's headband as well.

_Well done, Daughter of the Winds. Your potential in water magic has been unlocked._

"Sweet," Cailin declared. "Now let's see what else I have to deal with." As with the last fortress, there was a hole in the center of this room as well, only instead of a straight drop down this one was a slide. Knowing what she had to do, she proceeded to slide down into the next chamber.

Once at the bottom of the slide, Cailin found herself in a chamber filled with water. At the other end was a tiled platform bearing a door.

"Alright, so I just have to swim across," she said to herself. "That's easy enough." Just as she was about to jump into the water, she noticed something deadly in the water. Swimming beneath the surface was a horde of deadly-looking fish of varying sizes and shapes, but all with the look of crazed hunger (as well as a fish can show) and deadly killing power. "Damn, glad I didn't jump in. I'd be something's lunch." Then an idea came to her. "Wait a minute, I have water mastery, and ice is still made of water…" She focused her energy into water magic, and proceeded to produce a platform of ice in front of her. "I just hope it's strong enough to support my weight."

Cailin stepped out onto the ice platform, and sure enough, it held. She repeated the process, successfully avoiding the killer fish and reaching the end without expending an enormous amount of energy.

She stepped through the door and found herself in a room similar to the one from the upper level of the fortress. She was once again in a hexagonal room with engravings on the walls, these being a repeated motif of the Sheikah eye. In the center, a purple crystal was fitted in the center of the eye. Cailin proceeded to add this one to her headband.

_Your potential for shadow magic has been unlocked._

"Shadow magic?" Cailin argued to whoever it was that kept speaking inside her mind. "Can't Siobhán already do that?"

_What Siobhán performs is Twili shadow magic. What you have mastery over is the magic passed down through the generations of the Sheikah._

"I see," said Cailin definitively. "Well then, let's see what's waiting, then." She looked toward the center of the room to see how she was to descend, but found that there was just solid ground.

"That complicates things," Cailin murmured. "So now what…" She puzzled over her predicament for quite some time until finally coming to a conclusion. "Well, I gained mastery of Sheikah shadow magic, so let's see how that works." She focused her energy into her newfound mastery of Sheikah shadow magic, not really knowing how to go about using it but knowing only that she wanted to find her way out of this room, and then something happened. A reddish haze filled the edges of her field of vision, and as she scanned the room she found that where one wall had been, there was now a short corridor with a door at the end. She proceeded forward through the door.

Upon entering, she found herself in a large chamber, which was empty. On the other side was another door.

"This is too easy," Cailin said aloud. "All I have to do is get to the other side. I guess Zagros forgot about this room."

Cailin started forward through the vast expanse, but when she got roughly halfway through, her legs refused to work anymore.

"What the hell is this?" Cailin spat in frustration. Inexplicably she was paralyzed. No matter how hard she tried, she just could not get her legs to move. "Something's got to be going on. Time to find out what's what." Again she focused her shadow magic, and had she not already been paralyzed, she would have been frozen in horror at what she saw. Lumbering towards her was a massive hoard of Redeads, their gazes fixed on her.

"Oh dear goddesses," she muttered under her breath, her voice filled with genuine panic. "Redeads…I hate Redeads." Before she knew it they were upon her, ready to suck the life right out of her. Then Cailin had an idea.

"Oh man, I sure hope this works…" She mustered all the strength she had and broke the Redeads' paralyzing stare and crouched into a tight ball. Then, focusing her energy as best she could, she created a whirling wind around her. The Redeads stopped for a moment, unsure of what was happening, but then continued to advance. Then Cailin put her plan into action. Once every Redead was caught in her wind, she refocused her energy and ignited it. In a flash, each and every Redead caught fire, and the rushing wind's roar was drowned out by the nightmarish wail of the burning undead. Once the roar of their anguish had gone, Cailin stood up straight and continued on out the door.

The walls of the next chamber were covered in engravings of a vast oasis, its center culminating in an image of a mighty female warrior, the Goddess of the Sands. In her headpiece was set an amber stone, which Cailin added to her own.

_Your potential in spirit magic has been unlocked._

"Ok, I'm not quite sure what that means exactly, but we'll see." Cailin then began searching for a way out. Finally she noticed that the ceiling was open.

"That must be the way out," she mused, "but how do I get up there. Wait," she stopped short, "I forgot I can use wind magic to basically fly. This will definitely take some getting used to." She focused her wind magic and lifted herself up through the opening into the chamber above, still not quite sure what was meant by "spirit magic".

Once she had reached the chamber above, the floor closed shut beneath her, denying her any opportunity to search for another way. She was in a long corridor that widened at the end. At the wide end, the wall was adorned with numerous emblems of a sun. In the center of the corridor, light spilled down from the ceiling. Also in the end with the sun emblems, there was an area in the floor that appeared to open, but there was no clear way of opening.

"This is strange," Cailin said to herself, "although this seems oddly familiar, but why…" She pondered on it for a moment before realizing why it all seemed so familiar. "Of course!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "This is just like what the Hero of Time did inside the Desert Colossus. I have to figure out a way to shine that light onto the sun emblem, but how…the Hero of Time had the Mirror Shield. Hmm…well, I guess I can see what this 'spirit magic' is." Cailin then focused her energy into what she assumed was spirit magic. A force field appeared before her, but it wasn't like any other she had produced before. Instead of being generally invisible, this one shone like a mirror. She maneuvered the shining disc into the path of the light, and angled in such a way that the light was redirected into the sun emblem directly ahead. As she had hoped, the area in the floor opened up, allowing her passage down and closer to her goal.

She made her way towards the opening, and once there proceeded to climb down the conveniently placed ladder. Once at the bottom, she found herself in what could only be a labyrinth. Walls rose on both sides of her, forming a T junction ahead. She wasn't sure what was waiting for her, but from the clunking sounds of iron and steel, it didn't sound good. She proceeded towards the junction, peered around the corner, and her suspicion was confirmed. Waiting at the end was a Darknut, its massive sword hungrily waiting to spill blood.

"Spirit magic," Cailin intoned. "This area is about spirit magic…how can I use spirit magic…Ok, this might work. I used it to divert light last time, so maybe I can do that again. Oh, I hope this works." Again she focused her energy into spirit magic, and proceeded to try to manipulate the light. As she had hoped, she was able to bend the light around her, rendering herself invisible. Quickly, she darted out and around the corner, leaving the Darknut none the wiser. She continued this until finally she had reached the center of the labyrinth, where another ladder leading down waited.

"Thank the goddesses," she breathed in relief. "Now maybe I'll be done." She proceeded down the ladder. At the bottom she found herself in a small room with a dirt floor. The only features in the room were the ladder which she had just climbed down and a small hole near the floor on one wall.

"Hmm…" Cailin pondered aloud. "What kind of magic can get me through there…" She thought it over, but no elemental magic she could think of could shrink her in size or cause the hole to grow enough that she could fit through. Finally it struck her.

"Duh!" she exclaimed, hitting herself in the head with the heel of her hand. "It's so simple, I can't believe it took me this long to see it." She then performed the magic that was so simple, yet had eluded her until now. After a brief second, the great white wolf filled the room, and then proceeded to dig under the hole just enough that she could fit through. She tunneled through to the other side and then transformed back into her normal self.

"I still can't believe it took me that long to figure that out," she spat. She now stood in front of a doorway exactly like the one that took her to the first fortress. Without hesitation, Cailin stepped through.


	21. Chapter 21

Hey everyone, Llwyong coming to you live from his hideaway. Before this goes any further, I want to clarify some things. One, this is set in the Twilight Princess world setting, and when I refer to directions, I refer to the Gamecube version. Also, I know I had originally said that the twins were meant to be versions of myself. This is no longer the case. Those two have developed in such a way that very little of my personality remains in them the way I had intended. Alright, so now that that's out of the way, I'm pleased to present ch. 21. R&R plz.

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* * *

The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

"Did you fetch the boy as I had commanded?" demanded Zagros once Igos returned.

"Yes, master," Igos replied in his metallic monotone. "The one with the silver hair, just as you asked."

"Excellent," Zagros murmured with a sick grin. He nonchalantly strode over to where Igos stood with the boy in his metal arms and magically suspended him in the air. The boy's head lolled around sickeningly and Zagros carried him along.

"Pity," Zagros mused. "He hasn't yet awakened. This is rather quite unacceptable, really. I need answers from him. Well, I suppose I can wait until he's awake. Everything else has been set in order. I'd wager there's time to spare at this point."

"What shall you have me do, master?" Igos asked, bowing as best he could.

"Hmm…" Zagros intoned thoughtfully. "You know, I'm not really sure. Everything is in order except for the boy still being unconscious. The only left to do now is wait until he's awake, get the information I need from him, and then set the legions out onto Hyrule and the Twilight Realm so I can let the monarchs watch their kingdoms fall to my rule, and then I'll kill them, naturally. Tell you what, take the bat with you and patrol the lower levels. I highly doubt that those three interlopers survived their trials, but then again I highly doubted that the original model for the fabricants could be overcome and they were, so it probably would not be a bad idea for you to patrol just to be on the safe side. Arm yourself and then go on."

"Yes, master," Igos said obediently. "As you command." Igos removed a two-headed polearm from a weapons rack nearby and proceeded towards the door. The mechanical bat that Zagros had made first zoomed past, its flying skill greatly improved from the first time it had flown, and together the two mechanical minions exited the room.

Zagros then turned to face the boy. "Now all I need is for you to wake up," he said disapprovingly. "Well, there's no reason I can't have you in place while I wait."

* * *

A loud thud and several shouts later, the twins and the wind mage found themselves piled on top of each other. Eoghan was the first to stand; he groggily got to his feet and then proceeded to help the others up.

"Damn, Cal," he said upon seeing her headband. "Looks like you got some new bling."

"Bling?" she said incredulously.

"Yeah," he said. "It's a new word I made up. It's like, jewelry and that kind of stuff, because it blings in the light. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, I guess," she conceded.

"It'll never catch on," Siobhán chided, successfully taking the wind out of her brother's sails.

"You never give me a break," he complained. "So I'm guessing the two of you had to go through some kind of trial? I had to fight a bunch of dudes and then some kind of…it's hard to explain. It was like a man, only he was made out of metal."

"Looks like you made it out alright," Cailin observed. "What about you, Siobhán? What'd you have to do?"

"He stuck me in some kind of dungeon or something," she recalled. "I'm not really sure what it was supposed to be, but I had to balance on these beams, and jump around all over, and shoot things, and then I had to solve a puzzle involving a path, otherwise I would've gotten impaled."

"Well, you made it," Eoghan said in his usual upbeat way.

"Yeah, Zagros said he thought that I would," she said.

"Well, that's a good sign…I guess," Eoghan hesitated. "So what about you, Cal. Obviously you got something for your trouble."

"Yes, but it wasn't from Zagros," she said. "I heard some man's voice, I don't know whose, but anyhow he said that I could 'redeem my ancestor' and that 'they would unlock my potential'. I don't know who they are, I'm guessing 'they' are the sages, but either way, each time a crystal got added to my headband I've been able to do some pretty amazing stuff with my magic."

"That's awesome!" he exclaimed. "Well, now that we've proven what we're made of, let's go show Zagros who's boss!"

"Let's not get carried away," Siobhán reminded. "We have to consider the fact that since he was able to anticipate our arriving _and_ getting all this equipment _and_ have a trial designed to test each of us individually according to our own aptitudes, we need to be cautious. He's probably already got some heinous scheme in mind in case we actually succeeded."

"Your analysis gets on my nerves," Eoghan said, "but sometimes I'm glad you act that way. I hadn't considered all that."

"Well," Cailin said, "we should continue on. Like Siobhán said, he's probably got some other plan already made up, and he's probably already putting it into action. We need to get to him and stop him before he does too much damage."

"You're right," Eoghan nodded. "Let's go." Together, the three of them continued on the path upward through the fortress.

* * *

"Nnngg…where am I…" the boy murmured. He was just regaining consciousness and was not fully coherent.

"Ah, excellent," said Zagros. "You're awake. Now, boy, I want answers from you."

"What…" Finally the boy realized what was happening. "Hey, what is all this?" He found himself clamped into a machine of some kind, his wrist, ankles, and neck all bound by steel restraints.

"All in due time, boy," Zagros assured. "Just tell me what I want to know and I'll make this as painless as possible."

"What do you want to know?" the boy steeled himself.

"First of all," Zagros pressed, "what is your name?"

"Will," the boy answered.

"Will? Is that it?" Zagros demanded. "Nothing to follow?"

"No, just Will," he answered.

"Alright, Will," Zagros continued, "from where do you hail?"

"Hyrule," Will answered.

"Don't lie to me, boy!" Zagros cried, and delivered a hard backhand to Will's jaw. "You aren't Hylian, that's as obvious as those pointed ears of yours. Just one look at your eyes will give that away. Now, tell me the truth, from where do you hail?"

"I told you," Will insisted. "I am from Hyrule. You never asked if I was Hylian, you just asked where I was from."

"Boy," Zagros said, "you are in no position to argue technicalities. However, I shall be more specific this time. "What is your lineage? You are clearly not Hylian, so to whose line to you belong?"

"You know the answer to that as well as I do," Will said ambiguously.

"I suspected as much," Zagros said, evidently satisfied with this answer. "Those eyes give it away. Now, to your memory, have you ever inhabited your ancestor's home?"

"I believe so," said Will, "although I can't be certain anymore. I don't know what to believe anymore."

"Was this home in Hyrule?"

"No," he answered.

"Where was it in relation to Hyrule?"

"West," Will said.

"So you would cross the mountains beyond the desert…" Zagros mused to himself. "Very well, do you have any other family?"

"No," Will hesitated.

"What did I say about lying to me, boy?" Zagros demanded. "Don't pretend like that wind mage isn't related to you somehow." Zagros drew a small knife from his belt and pressed the cold steel against Will's throat. "I'll ask you again, do you have any other family?"

"Cailin, the wind mage," Will answered.

"What relation is she to you?"

"Sister," Will said, focusing everything on not letting the blade pierce his throat.

"As I suspected," Zagros said. "Now tell me, does the name Gufuu mean anything to you?"

"I don't speak that name," Will said.

"So it does mean something to you," Zagros smirked, realizing he had struck a nerve. "Tell me, Will, who is Gufuu?"

"I don't speak that name," Will insisted, "and I don't speak of the person."

"Answer me, boy!" Zagros cried. "Who is Gufuu?"

"I will die before I speak of that man," Will said defiantly.

Zagros lowered the blade. "You know, Will," he said coolly. "I would work on choosing my words better if I were you. You say you'd rather die than tell me who Gufuu is? Well…" Zagros turned his face away for a moment before turning back to face Will. "You may get what you ask for sooner than later."

* * *

As Cailin and the twins rounded the corner, they finally reached the top of the staircase. Before them was a long, wide corridor filled with ornately carved columns supporting the ceiling. Their classical beauty stuck out strangely against the industrial nature of the rest of the fortress. Through the center of the corridor ran a long red carpet. As the three of them entered the corridor, a set of wide doors opened on the other end. They could see two figures in the doorway; one of a tall man, and the other something very small hovering above his right shoulder. The man appeared to be carrying some kind of weapon.

"Get ready," Eoghan said as he drew the Gilded Sword. "I have a feeling it's about to go down."


	22. Chapter 22

Hey, I know this one is kinda short but that's ok. Not much else to say, so here it is, ch. 22. R&R plz.

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* * *

The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

"Are you all ready?" Eoghan said as he readied himself for battle. He couldn't tell who it was that waited for them at the other end of the corridor, but he was sure they were trouble.

"I'm ready, of course," Siobhán affirmed, preparing a bolt in her crossbow.

"So am I," Cailin said, with an unusual glint in her eye.

"Alright," Eoghan said, "well, let's do it, then."

Together they approached the center of the corridor, and as they did so, the two figures at the other end approached as well. As they cleared the gap, it became evident what they were up against. The human figure became distinguishable as a mechanical man, similar to that which Eoghan had fought during his trial, only sleeker, better put-together…more human. Above his right shoulder was now clearly a bat made of bronze, its tiny wings driven by gears and springs. The man carried in his hands a long staff outfitted with straight blades on each end.

"Tell the master," the mechanical man said to the bat. It quickly turned around, with more speed than something as heavy as it should have been able to do in the air, and sped off towards the door through which they had come.

"Oh no you don't!" Siobhán shouted, and loosed the bolt at the bat, hitting it square in one of its wings. It faltered, but managed to stay aloft, and soon it was out of sight. "Damn," she breathed.

"You are the interlopers master Zagros spoke of," he said, his voice deep and smooth with a slight metallic hint to it. "I can assure you, you will not make it out of this room alive."

"You sound awfully confident," Eoghan said. "Who do you think you are anyhow?"

"I am Igos du Ikana," the automaton answered. "I am the king of the great nation of Ikana."

"How can you be the king of Ikana?" Cailin interjected. "The Ikana were a race of men. You're a machine."

"I am still the king of Ikana," Igos answered. "Master Zagros fashioned me this body that I might be a more effective leader."

"If you're a king, why are you taking orders?" Siobhán persisted. "It seems like it should be the other way around."

"I take orders," Igos answered, "because of what I have to gain. Master Zagros will return life to the great nation of Ikana in return for service. The Ikana will once again rise up to take the land that it rightfully ours, filled with new life, life that you will not have. Now, enough talk. Prepare to die!" With that, Igos raised his weapon and charged the three of them. Siobhán loosed another bolt, this time directed at Igos, and hit him square in the chest plate. He staggered back for a second, but as he regained his balance he swung up with his weapon, catching her in the side and flinging her into one of the nearby pillars. Eoghan countered by thrusting his sword into Igos' elbow joint, only to be thrown to the floor by a powerful kick.

"Let's see how you like this!" Cailin shouted. Combining her wind and fire magic, she engulfed Igos in a flaming gust. It passed, but Igos remained, seemingly unharmed.

"Nice try," Igos said mechanically. He then twirled his pole before bringing one of the blades down to slice her in half. Cailin dove to the side, evading his strike, but just barely. As she regained her footing, a crossbow bolt whizzed past her head, barely missing her. It found its target when it lodged itself securely in one of Igos' eyes.

"You will pay for that with your life," Igos said coolly. He brought his blade down to meet her. Thinking fast, Eoghan dove in front of her with barely any time to spare; a second later, and Igos' blade would have sliced Siobhán open. Instead, it was deflected by Eoghan's shield.

"I have an idea!" Cailin shouted. "Follow my lead!" She focused her water magic, and sheeted Igos' legs in ice, rooting him to the spot.

"Foolish girl," Igos said, "you think this will keep me here forever?"

"No," she replied, "but this will. Siobhán," Cailin shouted. She focused her spirit magic and fired a beam at Siobhán. "I've augmented your strength using spirit magic. Now, go into his shadow and hold him down!"

Siobhán nodded and, using her shadowjumping technique, entered Igos' shadow. From where he stood, a pair of bluish hands could be seen protruding from the floor beneath him. They curled around Igos' ankle joints, and amazingly, pulled them down through the floor, rooting him to the spot.

"What are you doing?" Igos' tone was that of disbelief, distinguishable even through his mechanical monotone.

"Finishing you off," Cailin said with a wicked glint in her eye that was very uncharacteristic of her. "Alright Eoghan, I don't think I need to tell you what to do."

"No you don't," he said. He then took a running start, leapt, and with one fell swoop of the Gilded Sword, Igos' head parted company with the rest of his body.

"Alright, sis, you can come out now," he said. A moment later Siobhán emerged from the shadows to rejoin the group.

"Can you believe it?" Siobhán wondered at the destroyed body of Igos du Ikana. "This machine housed the soul of somebody else. That's incredible." She bent down to study the broken machine.

"Yes," Cailin said, "but it's a terrible thing not to allow the dead to rest. Now come on, we need to get moving so we can stop Zagros from doing whatever it is he plans to do."

"I mean," Siobhán said, apparently oblivious to what Cailin had just said, "look at this, this is amazing. To think, Zagros was able to imagine this, and then actually build it. He must be some kind of genius. He's probably even more powerful than Ganondorf was supposed to be."

"Don't act so impressed," Eoghan said. "It almost sounds like you admire him for it."

"Oh, what?" Siobhán stuttered, coming out of her reverie. "Oh, right, no, I don't think that. But this does give us a better idea of what we're up against."

"True," said Cailin. "Now let's go stop Zagros."

"Yeah," Eoghan agreed. "Let's do it."

Together they headed through the door before them, and up the stairs to face their final adversary.


	23. Chapter 23

So nice when a chapter writes itself like this one did. Sorry for not having it up sooner but I guess the engine was down or something. This has been done for like week and a half but I haven't been able to add it until now. Not much else to say about it other than I hope you enjoy. Here's ch. 23 of CD, R&R plz.

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* * *

The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

"Where is that despicable excuse for an automaton?" Zagros demanded to no one in particular. "Surely to all that's sacred it wouldn't take him _this_ long to patrol the lower level." As soon as the words had left his mouth, his tiny mechanical bat came buzzing into the room clumsily, its left wing broken and crippled. It came to a very ungraceful stop on the workbench nearby.

"Oh no!" Zagros cried, and ran over to where the little machine sputtered and hissed. "What's happened to you? I worked so hard on you, too…" Then the tiny machine spoke.

"The…interlopers…" it hissed, its small voice reminiscent of squeaky cogs, "they're…here."

"Damn," Zagros growled. "I should have knows that miserable undead moron would have been incapable of handling anything more than sweeping up scrap metal." He cupped his head in his hands in thought. "Oh well," he finally decided. "I suppose I have no choice. Then again, though, I'm a bit glad it worked out this way. You know my penchant for the theatrical. Might as well make a spectacle out of all of this."

Zagros then strode back over to where Will hung helpless. He bent down to face his hostage, so close that the tips of their noses nearly touched.

"Well, boy," Zagros said, "my only regret is that when I do this, I won't have one of _your_ parents too."

"What do you mean," Will hesitated.

"I'll show you what I mean," Zagros said with a maniacal grin. "You see, your sister and those two other fools will be here any moment, so I need to go ahead and put this into motion." Zagros then pulled a nearby lever, and three massive cages descended from the ceiling. Inside were the emaciated forms of Link, Midna, and Zelda.

"I recognize her," Will said.

"I should hope you do," Zagros chuckled. "That's Zelda, your former monarch. Well, technically speaking, she still is, but not for long. Yes, soon all of Hyrule and the Twilight Realm will fall to me."

"Why are you doing this?" came the frail voice of what was left of Princess Zelda.

"Well, for starters," Zagros began, "you can thank your beloved Link for all this. Had he not led me into a trap, I would not be taking personal revenge on him. Secondly, I have seen the kind of power my father had, and I am confident that I also possess it. I also know that I am much more intelligent than he was, and when I have that much power and this much brains, why should I squander it in a palace when I can really do something with it?"

"You never had to do this," Zelda pleaded. "I could have made you a national hero, someone who be remembered for the rest of our history. Yet, you choose to slaughter innocents and subject these people to oppression?"

"Well sure," Zagros said. "This route is so much more satisfying." He turned his head sharply towards the door. "Well, well, looks like business is about to pick up." Sure enough, moments later the twins and the mage became visible in the entryway.

"Croesvu dain to you," Zagros said with outstretched arms. "So long have I waited to see you."

"Cut the shit, ass," Eoghan snarled.

"Ooh, a feisty one," Zagros chuckled. "All in good time, my boy, all in good time."

"What's all this about," Cailin demanded. "You abduct the monarchs of two kingdoms and you animate a machine with a dead man's soul. Why? For what purpose?"

"Well," Zagros mused, "as I was just telling Zelda a moment ago, you have Link to thank for all this. He led me into a trap, which I'm sure you've heard about by now, and is generally undeserving of a crown. So not only am I exacting personal revenge on him, as I've said before, but I'm actually doing something with my talents rather than basking in a palace, although I must admit that _was_ rather enjoyable." He strode over to a nearby window that provided a magnificent view of western Termina. "You realize, though, that it was a waste of time coming here. You have no chance of winning. Soon, you will be dead, these four will be dead, and then my army of Ikana-soul-powered automatons will march on Hyrule and the Twilight Realm, and then they will fall to me."

"You have an army of soul-powered machines?" Siobhán interjected.

"Oh certainly," Zagros grinned. "You surely didn't think Igos was the only one did you?"

"How did you manage to do that?" she demanded.

"That machine over there," Zagros said as he gestured to the one he had used to transfer Igos' soul into the automaton. "However, I have been wondering for some time now if it wouldn't be better to use a living soul…" His eyes wandered until they finally came to rest upon the boy.

"Will!" Cailin cried as she finally saw her brother strapped into that horrible machine. "You sick bastard, what are you doing to him?"

"As I was saying," Zagros mused as he strode over to where Will hung, "I've been wondering about the potency of a living soul rather than a dead one. Well, from a dead person, I should say. Souls don't actually die, they just leave this plane of existence. However, they can be called back here for various reasons. That's what I've been using to power my army; the souls of the dead Ikana kingdom. However, I have a hypothesis that a soul fresh out of a living body is much stronger than one that has been called back to this plane of existence." He retrieved a strange backpack-like device from a nearby workbench. "So, being a man of science, I decided to begin a little experiment." He then took a long hose from behind the machine that held Will, and stabbed it into the boy's midsection, and then proceeded to pull a lever. They watched in horror as the machine drew out a thin, incorporeal something out of him into the container in Zagros' backpack. Soon, all the life had left him, and he slumped over.

"Will!" Cailin cried, and ran over to him. She put her hand to the boy's lifeless face, knowing there was nothing she could do.

"Do not worry," Zelda said from her cage. "When all is said and done, we can save him. There is a way."

"You keep silent," Zagros growled. "All is not said and done, and you will not save him, because the only one in this room who will still be alive is me! You see, this machine will augment my already amazing magical power with the power of his living soul."

"Not if I can help it," Eoghan shouted as he brought the blade of his sword down. Before Zagros knew what had happened, the harness part of his device was severed from the container.

"You little bastard!" Zagros shouted. "Look at what you've done. You've gone and made me lose my temper. Not to mention you've ruined that plan. Thankfully the containment device didn't break, so I can still try it again later once you're all dead. Wait, what's this?" He stopped what he was saying and held up his left hand. Where there had been nothing, there now was a Triforce mark, with the top triangle glowing gold.

"Ha! You see this?" Zagros cried, and held up his hand to present the mark to them. "You see what this means? The Goddesses have replaced my father with me. Now I am one of the three chosen by the goddesses."

"It matters," Eoghan snarled.

"You're damn right it matters," Zagros grinned. "It matters because now the Triforce has been reunited. All the pieces are here." As he said this, the marks on Link and Zelda's hands began to glow as well.

"Now," Zagros said as he drew his sword from it place at his hip, "you will see what a true Chosen One is capable of.

Then something none of them expected happened. For a moment, time stood still for everyone except Cailin. In that moment, that same voice that spoke to her during her trial spoke to her again.

_Cailin, Daughter of the Wind, the time has come to redeem your ancestor. You have mastered your elemental magic. Before you stand the bearers of the three pieces of the Triforce. Search deep within you. You know the one Zagros spoke of before, the one called Gufu. Can you forgive him for his transgressions?_

"What?" Cailin stuttered in a state of shock. What in all the worlds was going on?

_Gufu, can you forgive him?_

"Yes…I guess…" she sputtered before finally regaining his composure. "Yes."

_Look at your hand_. She looked, and there, too, was a Triforce mark, only on hers it was the center triangle that glowed.

_That which your ancestor wished to control by force, you have been chosen by the Goddesses to possess. Use this power, purge the evil from the worlds, and redeem him._

Then reality was set back into motion. Zagros raised his sword high, ready to strike. Cailin snapped back to reality, and Eoghan readied himself for battle.

"Wake up, Siobhán!" he shouted. "In case you haven't noticed, it's about to go down. Wake up and put that crossbow to use."

"This place is incredible…" Siobhán wondered to herself. "So much power…"

"Siobhán!" Eoghan cried. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Eoghan, get out of the way," Cailin ordered. "I have to finish this."

"You?" Zagros chided. "You think you can defeat me? I already possessed limitless power, and now I have the Triforce of Power. What can you possibly do to me?"

"I can redeem my ancestor," she said defiantly. "You see this?" She showed him the Triforce mark on her hand.

"What is that?" He demanded. "There are only three bearers of the Triforce. How can this be?"

"This is far greater than anything you could comprehend," she said through gritted teeth. "It is my ancestor's redemption, my family's renewal, the worlds' salvation, and your end." She focused all her energy into that one triangle on her hand. All the crystals on her headband glowed, and so did her pendant. Her entire body began to radiate golden light, so much so that the entire workshop was filled with light. Then she unleashed it; a golden beam of light and elemental energy directly at Zagros. It was then that Siobhán snapped out of her amaze.

"So much power!" she cried. "This isn't the end!" She rushed toward Zagros, seized him by the forearm, and in a flash of black shadows, the two vanished just seconds before the beam passed through where they stood. Seeing that her mark had vanished, she allowed the light to die down.

"Well I'll be damned," Eoghan said incredulously. "She can teleport."

"I can't believe it," Midna sighed. "My own daughter rescues the villain. How could this have happened? I thought we raised her better than that?"

"We did the best we could," Link reassured her. "It seems that the lure of evil was just too much for her to resist. Now we need to work on getting out of these cages."

"Here, I'll get you out," Eoghan said. He scrambled over to their cages and proceeded to free his parents and Zelda.

"I failed," Cailin sighed. "That was my chance to redeem my ancestor, and I failed."

"No you didn't," Link said in an attempt to console his old comrade. "You unleashed that power against a tyrant. There's no way the Goddesses will consider that failure."

"Yes they will," she said, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "That voice said to 'purge the evil from the worlds' and then I would redeem him. I didn't purge the evil."

"You did your best," Link said. "No one could have known that Siobhán would do that."

"I hope you're right," Cailin sighed. "Now I just have to figure out how to save Will."

"This might work," Eoghan suggested, holding up Zagros' container. "He sucked out his soul into this thing, so maybe we can pump it back in."

"It's worth a try," Link affirmed.

"Well, get on with it," Midna said.

"Alright, but let me do it," Cailin said. "He's my brother, I should be the one to do it." With a lump in her throat, she fitted the hose back into the container and pushed the lever to the opposite side of where it stood. They watched as, just as they had hoped, the machine began to work in reverse. Color returned to Will's pale face, but his eyes remained shut.

"Here, I'll get that," Eoghan said. He took the hose in both hands and pulled it out of Will's midsection fast.

"Oh no," Cailin stammered. "He's bleeding so much."

"Here," Midna said. She worked her shadow magic, and the wound stopped bleeding. "That won't hold for long. We need to get him back to the castle." She cast a look in Zelda's direction. "_Your_ castle, Princess."


	24. Epilogue

Well everyone, here it is: the epilogue. If you don't like the ending, I might change it, but only if I have enough people ask me just the right way, bc I'm satisfied with it. I do want to please what little fan base I have though. So anyhow, here's the epilogue, and the ending of LoM: Clockwork Darkness. R&R plz.

* * *

**The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness**

**Epilogue**

"So what do we do now?" Eoghan mused. They had returned to Hyrule castle, but not before taking note of how they had gotten back from Termina.

"Well," said Zelda, "once things return to some sense of normalcy, I'll send a party out to confirm the way to Termina. I believe your friend Shad will find that exciting," she said, turning her head to face Link as she said it. "Hopefully we will be able to establish an actual road to that world and establish relations with Termina. Of course Hyrule will take an active role in rebuilding Termina."

"The Twilight Realm will help, too," said Link. "Granted, there isn't much the Twili can do since they can't survive in the light unless they've been magically altered," he gave a quick look in Midna's direction, "although that would be undesirable, to say the least. However, we will help in whatever way we can."

"There may be a way to magically alter that world's ambience," Midna interjected. "With any luck we could possibly convert Termina into a sort of half-light realm, so that Hyruleans and Twili could live there together."

"That is an eventual goal for Hyrule as well," Zelda said, "once Twili are able to survive in the light. I'm not sure, though, if I could force something like that upon that world and be okay with it. That would be something to take before the remaining inhabitants of that world."

"It may be that the Twilight Realm will have to remain separated from the rest of the worlds," said Link. "I mean, light-dwellers can live in the Twilight, but not the other way around. At the very least, we could build another mirror to allow travel directly between the Twilight Realm and Termina."

"Wait a minute," Eoghan interjected, "can't things from the Twilight survive in the light? Not people, obviously, but I mean like, things. Like the Sword of Kings. That sword was forged in the Twilight, and it was fine when you took it into the light."

"Yes," Link said warily. "Eoghan, where are you going with this?"

"Well, if things from the Twilight can survive in the light…then this would totally work. Ok, you build a mirror that connects to Termina, right, and then people from there can go to the Twilight Realm, and all that. Well, theoretically, couldn't you take building materials from the Twilight Realm and then move them to Termina?"

"I suppose you could," said Link. "What do you think, Midna? Would that work?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't," she said. "Continue, Eoghan."

"Right, so if you did that, you could build Twilit settlements in Hyrule and Termina, so that way the Twili could go about freely in any of the worlds. Like, okay, you know how Zagros' Bronze City was all inside the one humongous structure? Well, you could sort of do the same thing with these, and have Twilight Mirrors set up so that the Twili never have to leave the Twilight, they can just go straight from one to the next."

"You know," Cailin said, speaking for the first time since arriving back at the castle, "your sister didn't give you enough credit. You may be a fighter but you're pretty smart."

"Indeed," Zelda affirmed, "and unlike Siobhán, you are using your mind for the benefit of mankind."

"I still can't believe she did that," Cailin sighed. "It could have all been over. I unleashed the Light Force and everything, and she saved him. Why would she do that?"

"She was hungry for power," Eoghan said. "I've known for the longest time that she looked down on me, and everyone else who wasn't full-blooded Twili. She thinks the other races are weak, and she saw power in Zagros. I imagine by saving his life she thinks that she'll gain some of his power."

"Only time will tell," said Zelda. "We must all be ready when it does. I have a feeling this will not be the last time we see the son of Ganondorf, the new Chosen One."

"Well, I'm ready to fight when the time comes," said Eoghan defiantly.

"As much as I don't want to," said Link, "I have to agree with my son. He's already proven that he's capable. In fact, should the need arise, I'll take up arms again, too."

"Link, you can't be serious," Midna argued. "You're an old man. You shouldn't be out fighting."

"I'm not that old," he retorted. "Besides, I'm still capable."

"Well," said Midna, "let's just worry about that when the time comes and then we'll see."

"Where am I and what's going on?" said a feeble voice from the doorway across the room.

"Will!" Cailin shouted with glee, as she ran over to him. "You're up and walking around! We're in Hyrule Castle, but soon we'll go home."

"Where is home anymore?" he sighed. "After you left again, I decided to leave too. I thought maybe I could start my own life somewhere in Hyrule, but then something happened and the next thing I remember I was stuck in that machine."

"Tell you what," she said. "We'll start a new life here in Castle Town. Our family has been redeemed, so it's ok for us to come back."

"Yes," Zelda affirmed. "Your family may go freely through Hyrule. I would have permitted it before, but it was a divine decree, so I could do nothing against it."

"Well, I hate to cut the party short," Link interrupted, "but we should probably be getting home. There's a kingdom that's been without a monarch for too long."

"Oh, one last thing before I forget," said Zelda. "Midna and I were talking about this earlier this morning, and I agree with her on this matter."

"What?" Link questioned warily.

"You really have got to shave that beard."

* * *

"Oh, it's good to be back at my palace," Zagros mused as he placed a hand on one of the columns supporting the roof over one of the patios.

"I'm sure it is," said Siobhán, "but here's the thing. If it weren't for me, you'd be toast right now, so you owe me."

"I suppose that's fair," Zagros said, taking his chin in his hand. "I'll have to take that into consideration. Until I decide what to do on that, feel free to make yourself at home. It's not like you can really go back to your home anymore. You'll be a criminal in Hyrule and the Twilight Realm, guilty of treason and aiding a terrorist, I'm sure."

"Well, I can make it a lot easier for you," Siobhán interjected. "I want the kind of power you've got. Let me stand at your side."

"I'm afraid I can't do that in good conscience," Zagros said. "You are sixteen years old, I am 124. That is unacceptable in any culture, even though that have arranged marriages between children."

"So you're saying I just saved your ass for nothing?"

"Oh no," Zagros said. "I never said it was impossible. All I said was that that kind of bond is unacceptable between two people with an age disparity far smaller than that between us. However, there is a way. Do you know the way to the Sacred Grove?"

"No," she replied dully.

"No matter," said Zagros nonchalantly. "I know you know how to get to Ordon Village. I need you to teleport us there, and then I can get us the rest of the way to the Sacred Grove. You see, the Sacred Grove is where the Temple of Time stood all those years ago. It's there that the Hero of Time began his quest. We need to get you there."

"Why?" Siobhán pressed hungrily.

"Magic still resides there," Zagros said with fire in his eyes. "We just need to age you up a bit."

Without another word, he took Siobhán's hand in his, and then they were gone.


End file.
